Al Arabiya filed oil touching $107 as the Middle East flareup heightened supply worries. [1] This paper already printed Brent holding above 100. A touch is not a close. Print both clocks. Do not average them.

A 107 print is not a closed Hormuz. It is not a ministry shutdown letter. It is not Friday's later oil print. Five sunk remains the U.S. hull count. Do not average five and ten.

One hundred seven is a touch on Thursday's flareup, not a settlement and not a closed strait this energy desk will print as fact.
Thursday is not a 108 print.
Print the touch. Print not a close. Leave a later barrel to the edition that owns a later barrel.

Touches and closes differ by conviction; 107 touched and retreated. Thursday's flareup priced fear, not shortage. Five hulls are the physical fact beneath the financial one.

Flareups fade; touches remain in the tape. Thursday's number will be footnoted by Friday. The strait stays open.

Open straits stay open; Thursday's 107 is a touch, not a close. Fear priced the flareup. Shortage didn't.

Thursday's number will be footnoted by Friday. Five hulls stay five. The strait stays open.

Al Arabiya stamped 107 as a touch, which is a wick, not a settlement. This energy desk will not round that wick to 108. The physical file under the wick is still five American hulls. Hormuz as a closed fact is not on the tape.
Thursday's wick is 107, not a 108 settlement. Five hulls stay five. The strait stays open.

Five hulls stay five. The strait stays open. Thursday's Al Arabiya wick is 107, not a 108 close.

-- YOSEF STERN, Jerusalem