ENERGY · MARKETS
Key Facts
—The price: Brent above US$90 again: Brent crude settled at US$90.49 a barrel on Monday, up 2.7 percent, after the first direct military exchange between the United States and Iran in a month. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, rose 2.8 percent to US$85.76.
—The trigger: US forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Iran answered overnight with ballistic missiles aimed at US bases in Jordan; Jordan says it intercepted them.
—The market fallout: The Dow Jones fell 374 points, gold slid about 0.8 percent to a two-week low near US$4,495 an ounce, and bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike in September jumped to roughly 60 percent.
