Global Market Today | Oil drops on reserve release report, Asian stocks gain

The release would exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member countries put onto the market in two releases in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal report said.

On Tuesday, oil suffered its steepest one-day slide in four years as mixed signals from the Trump administration on the Iran war spiked volatility across markets. Volatility spiked as US Energy Secretary Chris Wright erroneously posted — and then deleted — a message that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, only for the White House to concede no such operation had occurred.

Equity markets also experienced volatility, with the S&P 500 Index fluctuating between gains and losses, only to end the session down 0.2%. Asian shares rose 0.8% at the open, while sentiment for the artificial intelligence trade got a boost as Oracle Corp. shares jumped 8% in after-market trading on better-than-expected revenue.

The swings in energy markets added to pressure on Treasuries with bond traders starting to bet more on losses, dumping bullish futures positions as oil’s surge sparked inflation worries. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held its losses from the New York session.

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“Traders continue to get whipsawed by intense price action and extreme volatility in crude, with headlines driving sharp intraday swings,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. “It very much feels like a market trading in the fog of war, reacting in real time as events unfold, rather than one moving in an orderly fashion.”
The conflict, in its second week, showed no signs of easing with President Donald Trump warning Iran against laying mines in the key energy chokepoint after news reports suggested it was either preparing to, or had already begun doing so. Meanwhile, Group of Seven nations asked their main energy agency to prepare scenarios for the release of emergency oil reserves.