The Oil Price Shock No One Saw Coming

Less than two weeks ago, the U.S. was discussing a new nuclear deal with Iran, the International Energy Agency was forecasting an oil market oversupply, and commodity analysts were reiterating their expectations of an average Brent price around $60. Now, Brent is heading towards $80. And it may be just the beginning. Oil prices rose after Israel started bombing Iran, which was little surprise, and then they stopped rising as traders saw there was no direct threat of supply disruption. The wild card this time turned out to be President Trump. In…