Capital flows into the safety of US dollar and gold this morning, while oil is up almost 4% after Hamas’ unexpected attack on Israel wreaked havoc in the region last Friday, and tensions have been mounting since then. There are rumours that Iran helped Hamas organize its attack, and the US said it’s sending warships to the region. The escalation of the tensions sent a panic wave into the financial markets on Monday open. The barrel of American crude traded past $87pb, as fears of a potential retaliation against Iran threaten the passage of vessels carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz and flip the market rhetoric from a potentially slowing global oil demand to tight global supply.
It is difficult to predict the extent of the price action on geopolitical shocks. The fact that the US and Iran are pulled into the turmoil hints that tensions may further escalate. From a price perspective, the $90pb level is expected to shelter decent offers in US crude, as escalation and prolongation of Mid-East tensions could be the final straw that could bring the world very close to the brink of recession, and temper appetite for oil. It’s too early to call.
From a geopolitical perspective, this war is different from the one in 1973 because the political and the geopolitical landscape is unalike. First Arabic countries are not attacking Israel together. Second, OPEC countries do have spare capacity that they restrict willingly to maintain oil price at above the $80pb, but they don’t necessarily think of tripling oil prices – which would only accelerate the energy transition. Third, yes, the US could continue to tap into its strategic oil reserves to level out a potential price shock even though SPR is down to a 40-year low following the Ukrainian war and finally, the Ukrainian war and embargo on Russian oil are already in play and the West has little margin to impose another embargo on Arab oil. This being said, potential retaliation against Tehran is a serious upside risk for oil prices. We will keep an eye on developments, but don’t speculate on a full-blast rise in oil prices for now.
Trading in Asia was mixed, stocks in Tel Aviv lost 6.5%, sentiment in Europe is sour and the US equity futures are down. Gold acts as a strong safe haven. The price of an ounce jumped past the $1850 level this morning, and further escalation of tensions should drive capital into the safety of gold. The upside potential extends to a distant $2000 per ounce, but gains due to geopolitical tensions are not expected to last long. What will remain decisive for gold’s medium, long-term performance will be the US yields. For now, they are on a rising path.
Even though last Friday seems like it was ages ago, the NFP printed a shocker 336K new nonfarm job additions. But the wages growth was softer than expected and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%, instead of cooling down to 3.7% as expected by analysts. Expectations of November rate hike are steady, there is near 80% chance of no rate hike.
This week, the market attention will shift to the big bank earnings, and to the latest US inflation update. The US consumer price inflation is seen easing from 0.7% to 0.3% on a monthly basis thanks to the cooling energy prices over the past month, and the yearly CPI figure could soften from 3.7% to 3.6%. The core CPI, which is more important for the Fed expectations, is expected to have eased to 4.1%. The US 10-year yield is at the highest level since 2007; no surprise or a good surprise could spark interest from bond traders at the current levels.
