John Authers, Columnist

Enough Cool Heads Are Pulling Back From the Brink

Sentiment is driving the market gyrations, with Asia and Europe most exposed.

Iranian civil defense team after an airstrike on the Shahran oil refinery.

Source: AFP/Getty

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Years go by with less activity in the oil market than we have witnessed in just the first day of this week. The lingering question is whether all’s well that ends well. Crude prices surged almost to $120, in a sharper and more sudden rise even than ever occurred in the early days of the Ukraine invasion. Is it more important that traders took the price this high, or that they swiftly thought better of it, and brought it back below $90?