Oil Posts Best Week Since 2016 as Trump Calls Off Iran Raids - Bloomberg

Oil Posts Best Week Since 2016 as Trump Calls Off Iran Raids - Bloomberg:

Oil rocketed to its biggest weekly gain in more than two years as U.S. President Donald Trump’s aborted air strikes against Iran left Middle East tensions simmering with the endgame uncertain.

Crude futures rose in New York on Friday to complete a 9.4% rally for the week. Trump tweeted that he called off raids because of concern the death toll wouldn’t have been “proportionate” to Iran’s downing of an American spy drone earlier this week. Trump said he was in “no hurry” to respond, despite a series of provocations in the oil-rich region.

The canceled attack sent a “very confusing” message, Daniel Yergin, an oil historian and vice-chairman at IHS Markit Ltd., said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “The fear is that this could pretty quickly escalate. There’s plenty of room for accident, misunderstanding, future incidents. The Iranians are in a corner.”

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery closed 36 cents higher on
Friday at $57.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark notched its biggest weekly increase since December 2016. Brent for August settlement rose 75 cents to $65.20 on London’s ICE Futures Europe Exchange.