Brent crude ran to $97.93 overnight and OPEC+ declined to add supply, but the number that actually explains this market is 10: the daily average of commodity ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the lowest since May. No very large crude carrier has exited since Wednesday. Here's why spare capacity can't fix a chokepoint, how diesel carries this into the inflation data, and the four signals that would prove the thesis wrong.

The United States struck 3 Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one off Kharg Island — Iran's primary crude export terminal. Brent had already closed Friday at $96.28 after a 7.6% weekly gain, with WTI near $91.48 and gasoline averaging roughly $4.15 into a record Labor Day weekend. Now OPEC+ meets Sunday, oil futures reopen Sunday evening, and U.S. equity markets stay closed Monday — giving crude roughly 36 hours to reprice inflation and interest rate expectations with no stock market to argue with it. Here's the full transmission chain from tanker to equity multiple, what separates a risk premium from a real supply disruption, and the falsification test to write down before futures reopen.

Crude broke $90 after American forces struck Iranian launchers near the Strait of Hormuz — but the oil price is the symptom, not the story. This shock landed at the exact moment the Fed foreclosed its own flexibility, pushing September hike odds to 57% and the 2-year yield to 4.34%. Here's the transmission mechanism, the one signal in gold that confirms it, and the three conditions that would prove the read wrong.

Bitcoin posted its biggest day since March, climbing roughly 11% to near $71,800 — but the catalyst wasn't crypto news. It was a Treasury Department announcement doubling long-term bond buybacks, which pulled the 30-year yield down to 5.2% and triggered a record $1 billion short squeeze. Ethereum ran even harder, up 19%. Here's the mechanism behind the move, why Fed minutes and $94 oil complicate the story, and the single earnings report that resolves it.

The world's most important oil chokepoint is operating at 17% of normal capacity under active attack — and U.S. stocks closed the week a fraction below a record high. That gap isn't irrational. It's a specific, testable bet that this is a price problem, not a growth problem. Here's what breaks it, and why this week's retail earnings and Fed minutes are the stress test.

Oil climbed for a third straight session after Iran ruled out direct talks with Washington, pushing gold toward $4,400 and silver past $64. Meanwhile the S&P 500 closed at a record 7,757 and Nasdaq futures led again overnight. Capital is hedging Wednesday's inflation print two contradictory ways at once — here's what that rotation is telling you.

Oil cracked below $80 after President Trump called off a planned strike on Iran, sending crude down 6% and lifting gold to $4,100. South Korea's Kospi lost 5.13% overnight while U.S. futures pointed higher, and AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb reportedly held talks on a $400 billion combination. Crypto sat the rally out entirely. Here's what's driving the rotation and what to watch this week.

President Trump called off a planned strike on Iran late Saturday, citing agreement on a deal that would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the chokepoint carrying one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil. OPEC+ added 188,000 barrels a day to September quotas, the 30-year Treasury yield hit its highest level since 2007, and Cardano jumped 9% ahead of a key ETF eligibility date. Here's what actually moved and what it means for the week ahead.

Three storylines are pulling this market in three directions at once. Oil spiked on Middle East escalation, the Dow ripped 537 points higher while chip stocks got crushed for a fourth straight session, and the Fed delivers a decision today that's genuinely too close to call. Here's what happened and what to watch before the close.