Wealthion Macro Bites 3-12
Explosives-laden Iranian boats attacked two fuel tankers with full cargoes just loaded in Iraq (Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and Malta-flagged Zefyros). The attacks set both tankers ablaze, killed one crew member and resulted in complete shutdown of Iraq’s oil ports. Additionally, the Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree dry bulk vessel, the Japan-flagged ONE Majesty container ship, and the Marshall-Islands flagged Star Gwyneth bulk carrier were all hit by unidentified projectiles, demonstrating Iran’s resolve to disrupt international shipping without regard to nationality.
After reaching a Tuesday intraday low of $81.16, Brent (April) futures touched $101.59 in early Thursday trading, and WTI futures traded from $76.73 to $95.97 over the same span. Thursday’s price spikes followed the IEA’s record release of 400Mb from global strategic petroleum reserves (incl. 172Mb from U.S. and 80Mb from Japan). A Thursday statement from Paris-based IEA called the current Mideast conflict, “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”
Ebrahim Zolfaqari (spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Military Headquarters) left little to the imagination in warning the U.S. “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilized.”
The Trump administration is launching “Section 301” trade investigations into excess industrial capacity and forced labor conditions in 16 major trading partners (incl. China, EU, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico) which could lead to new tariff structures by this summer.
Euro Stoxx 50 -0.15%, S&P futures -0.4% and Nasdaq futures 0.35%. DXY dollar index and spot gold little changed and spot silver +1.5%. WTI futures +4.7% ($91.45) and Brent futures +5.3% ($96.91) [7:45 am ET].
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