John Authers, Columnist

At $110 Oil, a Longer War Is Here for Markets

Bad midterms news for Trump: Both fuel and food inflation are now under pressure.

March 9, 2026 at 4:04 AM UTC

John Authers is a senior editor for markets and Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief markets commentator at the Financial Times, he is author of “The Fearful Rise of Markets.”

Betting increasingly favors a longer war.
Source: AFP/Getty

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Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Iran has chosen a new leader, and it’s Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the slain former supreme leader. This isn’t regime change, or the choice of a country about to surrender, and it contributed to a shocking open to trade in Asia. Brent crude is now above $110 per barrel, up 60% for the week, while in Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 7% at the time of writing. Crude is at a four-year high: