Middle East Crisis Economic Impact

Two ships fired at in the Strait of Hormuz – oil prices rise

Two large oil tankers on their way out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz have been fired at by unknown projectiles, Bloomberg reports, citing security consultant Marisks.

This causes the price of oil to rise from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent in the morning, while the declines on the Stockholm Stock Exchange increase.

This weekend, tensions increased in the war between Iran and the United States, which has now been going on for over six months.

ECB Summit: The conflict in the Middle East can keep inflation up

The European Central Bank, ECB, must prepare for the possibility that the war between Iran and the United States could become a “conflict of attrition” that could keep inflation up in the euro area for a long time. This is what Finnish central bank governor Olli Rehn told the Financial Times.

The conflict has pushed up oil prices, which in turn contributes to higher inflation. The statement from Olli Rehn has strengthened market expectations that the ECB will raise the key interest rate in the euro area by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5 percent at the interest rate announcement next week.

Less than ten ships a day pass through the Strait of Hormuz

The number of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz remained in single digits after the weekend, around five on Monday. This is reported by Reuters, citing preliminary shipping data.

Of the five, four sailed into the strait and one out – and none of them carried oil or gas. Over the past two weeks, the average has been ten ships per day.

The conflict between the US and Iran escalated further over the weekend, after the US attacked Iran, which then responded with attacks on US military targets in the Middle East.