Brian Panton

Dec 11, 2023 | dowjones.com | Natasha Vargas |Brian Panton

On October 7, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on numerous Israeli communities. Despite the intense fighting that persists in Gaza and Israel, energy markets have seen little disruption to petroleum supplies. On October 6, Brent futures were at $84.58 per barrel (Reuters News, October 6), but on October 19, prices shot up to $92.38/bbl over fears that the war would affect the wider Middle Eastern region (OPIS News Alerts, November 13).

Jun 28, 2023 | dowjones.com | Brian Panton

The Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged for the first time since March 2022 generated a substantial amount of media buzz. Influential news outlets circulated the message that the pause in June was the first since the Fed launched its aggressive monetary tightening campaign 15 months ago. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers that the central bank would likely dole out rate hikes in the coming months (The Wall Street Journal, June 21).