Episode Details

This week's defining event arrived not from the strait but from the negotiating table. Reports of a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding on a framework for talks set off the mostsignificant single-week oil price decline since this crisis began — WTI broke below one hundred dollars for the first time in weeks and ended the week at $87.76, down more than nine percent. Brent settled at $91.70, down more than eleven percent. The market is pricing in a Hormuz reopening before it has happened. Secretary Rubio played down an imminent deal. President Trump said he would not rush the agreement. The paper price moved on the MOU. The oil in the ground has not moved at all.