Overview
- Brent crude, which climbed above $106 on Friday, capped a sharp weekly rise as investors pulled back from stocks and braced for a longer supply shock.
- Iran is keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut to normal traffic and refuses talks until the U.S. lifts its port blockade, and President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the Navy to shoot boats laying mines.
- Pentagon officials told lawmakers that demining the strait would take at least six months and would only start once fighting stops, a path that could keep gasoline and shipping costs high.
- Global equities slipped and the dollar firmed as oil’s jump stoked worries about sticky inflation, with Europe and Japan seen as especially exposed because they import most of their energy.
- Bitcoin stalled near $78,000 after an eight-day run of U.S. spot-ETF inflows, with analysts pointing to negative funding and fresh Japan inflation data as signs the rally is vulnerable to tighter financial conditions.