Overview
- Brent settled near $103.14 and WTI at $98.71, with gains of roughly 42% and 47% since late February as supply fears intensified around the Strait of Hormuz.
- U.S. equities fell for a third straight week, with the Dow down 2.26%, the S&P 500 off 2.02% and the Nasdaq lower by 1.41%, while tech and materials led Friday’s declines.
- Mexico’s S&P/BMV IPC dropped 0.66% to 65,648.91 and logged a 3.70% weekly slide as investors weighed potential economic fallout from the conflict with Iran.
- Efforts to cushion supply—an IEA plan to release 400 million barrels and a U.S. Treasury waiver for in‑transit Russian oil—arrived as President Trump warned of striking Iran “with severity” next week.
- PCE inflation cooled to 2.8% year over year in January with core at 3.1%, reinforcing expectations the Fed will hold rates next week as the dollar firmed and the 10‑year Treasury yield edged to about 4.28%; corporate drags included Adobe on CEO succession and Ulta after weak guidance.