Market report: Oil price jumps to five-month high

New attacks in the Persian Gulf make oil as expensive as it was in May. This raises concerns about a new inflation spurt. The only hope at present remains a rapprochement of the warring parties. In the summer there was a noticeable relief, but now the oil prices are back. In the morning, North Sea oil of the variety Brent again climbed over 111 US dollars per barrel (159 liters). This is the highest level in five months. Further attacks in the Gulf region are due to the situation in the Persian Gulf, which is even more unclear than usual anyway. Recently, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright had spoken of a recovery of supply quantities from the region to 80 percent of the pre-war level. Belgian data service provider Kpler now reports that weekly oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz fell to 8.5 million barrels per day last week, after more than 20 million barrels last week. Behind this are in particular several new Iranian attacks on merchant ships in recent days. Iran has "no choice" but to exercise control over the strait to ensure the country's security, a senior Iranian official recently said, according to a report by the state news agency IRNA. In addition, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia from Yemen appears to continue to attack Saudi Arabian oil facilities. "The risks for oil prices are clearly upwards," said commodity expert Hamad Hussain of the British research firm Capital Economics. The escalation of attacks on ships could lead to a further decline in oil supply. Fueling inflation and interest rate worries This is fuelling concerns that high energy prices will keep inflation high and central banks will have to raise their interest rates higher than previously expected to counter the stubborn inflation. High interest rates, on the other hand, increase costs for companies, not least the technology groups, which are currently borrowing enormous funds to keep up in the AI race. Midterms in the US important fixed point But the markets still have a small hope - that the US and Iran might come closer before the US midterms in early November. In view of the disappointments so far, however, this hope currently has little weight. Any credible news in this direction would cause oil prices to fall significantly. After the midterms on November 3, market participants again see a growing danger that Washington is trying to resolve the conflict with new military strikes. By the way, US oil of the WTI variety continues to be listed at a good 103 US dollars per barrel well below the Brent price. Behind this is also the recent order of US President Donald Trump, which lifted some sanctions and tariffs on Russian energy products. On the German stock market, the new price boost on the oil market is the biggest burden factor today. By early afternoon, the DAX lost 0.8 percent to 25,121 points.