US aircraft struck the Iranian island of Qeshm overnight from Monday 2 to Tuesday 3 November, after President Donald Trump told a Washington campaign speech on Monday that the United States had not been fighting for months. Sources say the strikes had in fact been under way for several weeks without public announcement.
Brent crude closed Monday at $104.77 a barrel, down 7.63 percent, a decline of $8.66 on the day. WTI closed at $96.46, down 7.36 percent. By Tuesday morning in Asian trade, Brent had recovered some ground, rising 0.5 percent to $105.25.
Diplomacy amid the strikes
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had granted the government powers to resolve the crisis through dialogue. Qatari mediators returned to Tehran to discuss a seven-step plan that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, which remains in place. Kpler had measured an 18 percent decrease in Hormuz flows versus pre-war levels by mid-October. The campaign that led to the current strikes began on 28 February; the chief of ADNOC has said close to one billion barrels have been drawn from world stocks since then.
Gold and bitcoin under pressure
Gold traded near $3,950 an ounce before the European open on Tuesday, after posting its worst October since 2008. Bitcoin hovered near $77,000 around dawn Tuesday; by our own measurement at 06:06 GMT on 3 November it stood at $76,497, down 2.28 percent from the previous close and its lowest level in 31 days. Glassnode put the average entry price of US spot bitcoin ETFs near $81,500.
CME FedWatch data showed the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike in December at 73 percent on Tuesday morning, down from 80 percent a week earlier. AAA figures put the average US gasoline price at $4.17 a gallon, versus $4.40 a month earlier.
Data: CoinGecko
