The economic reverberations of the conflict are being felt at every gas pump and trading desk. On Thursday, oil prices closed with a moderate increase after briefly surpassing the symbolic $100-per-barrel threshold. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery settled at $97.87, up 3.67%, while Brent crude rose 1.24% to $95.92.
The day before, prices had plummeted following the truce announcement — a whiplash that underscores how fragile sentiment remains. John Kilduff of Again Capital told AFP that the market’s information “continues to be somewhat vague or prone to confusion.”
Meanwhile, in the US, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index — held at 2.8% year-over-year in February. But that figure was calculated before the Iran conflict erupted, meaning the full inflationary impact of surging energy prices and supply chain disruptions has yet to be captured in official data. The core PCE reading, which excludes food and energy, dipped one-tenth to 3%.
