WTI and Brent Have Massive Gains This Week After US-Iran Tension

Brent crude was up $0.69, or 1.07%, at $65.14 a barrel at 1210 GMT. The global benchmark jumped 4.3% on Thursday and is on course for its first weekly gain in five weeks.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 24 cents, or 0.42%, at $57.31 a barrel. The U.S. benchmark surged 5.4% on Thursday and is on track for a more than 9% increase this week.


West Texas Intermediate graph

“Crude prices are spiking on increased Middle East tensions after Iran shot down a U.S. drone in what the U.S. claims is international airspace,” said Jefferies analyst Jason Gammel.

Iran said it shot the drone over its territory.


Brent crude graph

Iranian officials told Reuters on Friday that Tehran had received a message from U.S. President Donald Trump through Oman overnight warning that a U.S. attack on Iran was imminent.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza