Norbert Rücker (Julius Baer) | Oil prices sold off more than 4% as concerns about supply risks in the Middle East calmed. The latest actions and reactions show that both opponents, the United States and Iran, are shying away from a military escalation out of fear of its potential economic costs. We stick to our Neutral view on oil and see oil prices lower towards year end. Demand should remain soft amidst weak growth, while supplies increase from Canada to the North Sea.

Mueid Al Raee (The Conversation) |Whether or not the Americans actually want higher oil prices, there are certainly good economic reasons why they probably won’t mind them. Deepening the chaos that started with the US withdrawing from the West’s nuclear deal with Iranis an “easy” way to achieve higher oil prices while meeting other strategic objectives. Yet how the Europeans, China and Russia respond will also determine the global flow of oil from Iran and Iraq.

Bankia Estudios | The sharp increase in oil prices produced by the attack on Saudi installations happened as a moment of weakness in the global economy with multiple centres of uncertainty (trade war, Brexit, global industrial recession, among others); however, it would have to be persistent and much more intense to derail global expansion.