Oil tumbles below $100 on post-election peace hopes

{"text":[[{"start":10.22,"text":"Oil prices tumbled sharply on Wednesday to their lowest level in two months as the Democrats’ landslide victory in the US midterm elections raised the pressure on Donald Trump to end his war in Iran."}],[{"start":22.5,"text":"Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled 8.7 per cent lower at $94.62 a barrel after US vice-president JD Vance blamed the conflict for the Republicans’ wipeout in Tuesday’s vote."}],[{"start":36.18,"text":"It has fallen more than 19 per cent since the end of last week on reports of progress towards a peace agreement between Washington and Tehran."}],[{"start":44.72,"text":"West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, settled down 8.3 per cent on Wednesday at about $88.12 a barrel, leaving it down almost 15 per cent this week."}],[{"start":55.62,"text":"“[The] real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” Vance posted on social media, adding that pollsters had found that the top response from Republican voters asked why they instead voted Democrat on Tuesday was a demand to “end the war”."}],[{"start":71.22,"text":"Traders and analysts said the oil price was being driven by a rush of optimism over an end to the conflict, which has thrown the global oil market into turmoil and sharply curtailed crude exports from the Gulf."}],[{"start":82.66,"text":"“The market is saying that Congress and members of his own administration are likely to start acting as a constraint on President Trump’s war in Iran,” said Seb Barker, chief market strategist at hedge fund firm Marshall Wace."}],[{"start":94.66,"text":"Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, posted his support for Vance’s message on X."}],[{"start":100.86,"text":"CBS reported on Wednesday that Trump had asked advisers whether he should fire defence secretary Pete Hegseth, a champion of the Iran war. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said his new majority would work with Republicans to end the war."}],[{"start":115.78,"text":"The slump in oil prices triggered a sweeping rally in government bond markets, which have been hit hard by energy-driven inflation in recent months."}],[{"start":124.1,"text":"Ten-year gilt yields dropped 0.13 percentage points, the biggest daily drop since May, to 5.16 per cent. Yields on French debt of the same maturity dropped 0.16 points to 4.78 per cent. Yields fall as prices rise."}],[{"start":138.42,"text":"Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy, a research group, said the election results would make pursuing the war more costly for the Trump administration."}],[{"start":149.74,"text":"“A Democratic sweep changes the political cost of continuing the Iran war. The White House keeps its discretionary powers over strikes, blockades and sanctions licences. What changes, however, is the price of using them,” he said."}],[{"start":164.5,"text":"“With both chambers [of Congress] now capable of passing resolutions, holding back war funding and delaying confirmations, the administration faces a shorter political runway and greater institutional pressure to find a [peace] deal.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":178.18,"text":"Joel Hancock, a senior commodities analyst at Natixis Bank, said Trump had implied that he was moving away from previous suggestions he could resume strikes on Iran after the elections."}],[{"start":189.86,"text":"“All of Trump’s recent statements on Iran have been quite conciliatory, or at least showing no urgency of an attack. That’s really countered the narrative that we’re about to see an imminent resumption of the war,” he said."}],[{"start":201.94,"text":"In the absence of a peace deal, he added, Brent was likely to move back above $100 a barrel because of high logistical costs and the continued difficulty of shipping crude out of the Gulf."}],[{"start":213.22,"text":"Additional reporting by Kate Duguid in New York"}],[{"start":220.46,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793843269_6443.mp3"}