Oil prices tumbled Wednesday for the third straight day, as a flurry of headlines from the Middle East sparked renewed optimism in global markets.As of early Wednesday morning, U.S.crude oil had fallen more than 1.5% to around $81 per barrel and had earlier slipped as low as $79 per barrel for the first time since Aug.
13.International oil benchmark Brent was also down around 2% and trading at just under $86 per barrel.Driving the moves in oil were a trio of headlines over the past 24 hours that, taken together, could signal a shift in how both Tehran and Washington are approaching the war after six months.
The first development was the renewal of talks between Iran and Oman about reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz, reported by Reuters.The U.S.
State Department is also preparing to return American diplomats to their posts at embassies across the Middle East, according to The New York Times.And Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S.
allies that the Trump administration does not expect to resume military strikes on Iran, according to comments reported by Axios.Paul Donovan, the global chief economist for UBS Wealth Management, sounded a cautiously optimistic note.“While this may not signal an immediate reopening of the strait, it does suggest Iran is considering reopening the strait,” he wrote in a note Wednesday.Further boosting the sentiment around Iran were comments from President Donald Trump’s comment Tuesday on social media.
“I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted on Tuesday.The timing of the post raised eyebrows, however, because the text mirrors a Trump post from Aug.
18, when he wrote that “all water mines have been removed or detonated.” Shipping analytics firm Kpler on Wednesday reported that “Strait crossings remain subdued.” The firm assessed that just five vessels had transited the Stra...