Do Global Oil Markets Have Trump Derangement Syndrome?

Donald Trump may have started his war against Iran with the aim of regime change. But it quickly turned into a battle for control of the global oil futures market. Iran may have few, if any, conventional weapons it can use to blockade, retaliate, or bloody the United States. But it has the capacity to threaten, or even close, the Strait of Hormuz. And that means the ability to trigger a global energy and economic crisis that could force the United States, or at least its president – ​​for the moment synonymous – to relent. What fascinates and perplexes me is the response of global oil markets to the crisis, which seems based at least on a short-term desire to credit Trump’s public comments as having a close connection to reality, which is of course absurd.

Let me give you at least a few examples.