Oil soared more than 5% on Thursday after Iran shot down a US military drone, raising fears of a military confrontation between Tehran and Washington.
Expectations that the US Federal Reserve could cut interest rates at its next meeting, stimulating growth in the world’s largest oil-consuming country, and a drop in US. crude inventories also supported prices.
“It’s a confluence of events: there’s a looming easing cycle which is going to hit the dollar and prop up commodity prices and there are also the tensions with Iran,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York.
