Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Copper hit an all-time record high today, and while AI-driven demand gets most of the headlines, the real pressure point is supply. Refining bottlenecks tied to the Strait of Hormuz closure are squeezing the market hard, pushing prices to levels traders haven't seen in the history of the contract.
That Hormuz disruption is rippling far beyond copper. Crude oil surged four percent Tuesday, lifting the dollar index by roughly a third of a percent as inflation expectations climbed. President Trump described the US-Iran ceasefire as on life support, and markets are pricing in the possibility that hundred-dollar-plus oil isn't a short-term spike but a sustained reality.
Airlines are already living that reality. Fully fueling an Airbus A three-eighty now costs roughly three hundred forty thousand dollars, up about sixty-one percent from pre-war levels. JP Morgan expects oil to hold in the low one hundreds per barrel, and carriers are facing an uncomfortable choice between absorbing those costs or passing them directly to passengers through higher fares.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
