Oil spikes, markets wobble
Brent briefly jumped near $119 on Persian Gulf tensions before receding, and U.S. stocks closed lower as traders pushed out expectations for Fed rate cuts. The price swing lifted volatility and rekindled inflation worries — a near‑term headline that can reshape sector exposures. (cnbc.com)
QatarEnergy CEO Saad al‑Kaabi said two of the plant’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas‑to‑liquids units were damaged, sideling about 12.8 million tonnes a year of LNG — roughly 17% of Qatar’s export capacity — with repairs expected to take three to five years. (bloomberg.com) Al‑Kaabi warned QatarEnergy may declare force majeure on long‑term LNG contracts and estimated the damage could cost about $20 billion in lost annual revenue and disrupt shipments to markets including Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China. (energynews.today) U.S. equities closed lower on the session: the S&P 500 at 6,606.49 (‑0.27%), the Nasdaq Composite at 22,090.69 (‑0.28%), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 46,021.43 (‑203.72 points). (cnbc.com) The CBOE Volatility Index jumped to about 25.09 — a more than 12% intraday rise and the highest close in over two years — while Cboe options flow showed heavy buying in short‑dated protection as cross‑asset implied volatilities spiked. (markets.financialcontent.com) (cboe.com) After the energy shock, market‑implied odds of an imminent Fed rate cut collapsed — CME‑based measures showed the probability of a March 25‑basis‑point cut around 1.9% while expectations for spring easing were pushed farther into 2026. (phemex.com) Brent futures, which traded briefly near session highs, pulled back into the low‑$110s by midday amid profit‑taking and liquidity moves, leaving European gas and diesel benchmarks and short‑dated oil options trading at multi‑week to multi‑month extremes. (apnews.com)
