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THE LEAD
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Both sides shot, both sides stopped. Brent tells you what the market thinks about permanence
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On Sunday evening, Iran struck Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs. Israel responded with strikes against Iranian military and defense facilities. By Monday afternoon, both nations announced halts. Iran's warning afterward was stark: resume "aggression and hostility, including in Lebanon," and the next response would be "much more severe." Per Trump's framing, the ceasefire is in place. This was the first breach since the April announcement.
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Trump moved quickly after the halt. On Monday he said a deal with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war permanently is "in reach." He also told Netanyahu: "I call all the shots." Take that at face value or not, but the market did. Brent crude spiked above $97 during the Sunday night exchange, then pulled back to $94.18 by Tuesday morning, down 0.17% on the day. That spike-and-retrace is a read, not a number. Traders priced in disruption when the exchange started, then walked it back when the halt held overnight. At $94, they're assigning meaningful probability to Trump's deal closing.
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We've seen this loop before. The rhythm is familiar. Exchange, halt, warning, Trump statement. What's different this time is the Hormuz framing is explicit rather than implied, and the retrace happened faster than after previous escalations. Whether that means the deal is genuinely close or just that markets have stopped believing each spike is permanent, I'm not sure yet. I'm watching whether Iran follows through on Thursday, when the next round of US-Iran talks was reportedly pencilled in.
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WHAT TO DO
Nothing urgent changes today. Schools are in-person, Emirates is operating at ~84% capacity, and Brent at $94 doesn't change your pump price mid-month. If you're on Emirates and have a booking this week, check the app. If you're in a business that prices in USD and hasn't hedged against oil, this is the week to revisit that.
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