Brent Crude Tops $140 and the Strait of Hormuz Is One Tweet Away From Chaos
The US-Iran conflict is rewriting the energy playbook in real time — and social sentiment is somewhere between panic and 'I told you so'
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Let's set the scene: Brent crude topped $140 a barrel — a level not seen since 2008 — after Trump delivered a prime-time address on the Iran war that Bloomberg's Big Take described as contradictory, exit-strategy-free, and about as reassuring as a smoke alarm at a fireworks factory. Markets responded exactly how you'd expect: stocks dropped, oil ripped, and the dollar surged on haven demand. A Bloomberg Daybreak segment noted WTI crude spiked over 11% to nearly $112 per barrel in earlier sessions, with Brent close behind at $109 before the speech pushed things further.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have now threatened to completely close the Strait of Hormuz if Trump follows through on energy infrastructure threats — and Saudi Aramco's CEO just pulled out of a major international energy conference. Jim Cramer on CNBC is warning traders to brace for "digestion of the weekend's war damage" come Monday open, while the jeremiah babe channel on YouTube is already calling it a "Mad Max world" (unhinged, but oil at $140 makes it harder to fully disagree).
Bank earnings season kicks off soon with $JPM, $GS, and friends — Goldman earns roughly 50% from trading, so the volatility might actually be their cheat code. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Bessent says the US has "plenty" of funds for the Iran war, which is either reassuring or the most expensive flex in recent memory.