Brace for trouble. The US-Iran conflict now appears to be gaining in intensity and the commodities market is taking the current spiral of violence seriously. Brent crude, which was in the mid-$70s to the barrel a week back, has climbed to the mid-$80s. And that is bad news for the Indian stock markets. Nothing causes greater anxiety to the markets than rising oil prices.

New clashes over control of Strait of Hormuz put investors in ‘risk-off’ mode

Even a couple of months ago, any flare-up between the US and Iran in the Gulf region would have seen two things happening: A spike in crude oil prices, and a market reaction that…