The American Times News | Economy, Geopolitics, Calculators

  Global markets are being pulled in several directions at once as the U.S.-Iran confrontation disrupts energy shipping, President Donald Trump escalates economic pressure on Iran and imposes new tariffs on Canada, and cryptocurrency markets react to changing expectations over inflation, interest rates, U.S. debt and digital-asset regulation. These developments are separate in origin, but they are increasingly connected through the same financial channels: oil prices, trade costs, bond yields, the dollar and investor appetite for risk. The Middle East remains the most immediate geopolitical risk. The temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire framework expired during the week of August 17 without producing a permanent settlement, while Washington and Tehran remained divided over sanctions, military pressure and the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has said the waterway is open, while Iranian officials continue to describe it as effectively closed until U.S. conditions are met. Commercial ...

  The Iran-US standoff is increasingly being felt far beyond the battlefield. A severe reduction in commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted one of the world's most important energy corridors, pushed oil prices toward $95 a barrel and added fresh inflation concerns for governments and central banks. At the same time, global equities have struggled while Bitcoin has taken an unexpectedly strong turn, illustrating how geopolitical risk can affect different parts of the financial system in very different ways. The term “lockdown” needs some qualification. The Strait of Hormuz has not been completely sealed to every vessel. On August 22, Iran granted special permission for several Iraqi oil tankers to transit the waterway, while Reuters reported that overall maritime traffic remained heavily reduced. On August 20, ship-tracking data showed only nine commodity vessels passing through the strait on each of the previous two days. Reuters — Iraqi tankers granted permi...