Oil Broke $100. March Broke the Market.
WTI hit $102.86 on Trump's Kharg Island comments, the S&P 500 closed its worst month since 2022 at -6.5%, and March 2026 will be studied in finance courses for years.
Hendrik Van Der Berg
Bureau: Brussels
Mortgage Rates at 6.49%. Spring Housing Market Frozen. War Premium Baked In.
30-year mortgage rates hit 6.49% as the Fed holds at 3.25-3.75% and war-driven inflation eliminates any path to rate cuts — the spring housing market is functionally suspended.
WTI Opened Above $102 Monday. Up 44 Percent Since the War Began.
WTI crude opened Monday at $102.86, clearing the $100 barrier that Friday's close of $99.64 had left one dollar short — now 44% above pre-war levels.
Brent Near $107. The War Premium Is No Longer a Premium.
Brent crude holds near $107 Monday, with prediction markets pricing a 93% probability of staying above that level through the day's close.
The Fed Is Trapped Between Inflation and Recession. It Is Doing Nothing.
The Fed held at 3.25-3.75% in March and faces a trap: cutting risks embedding oil-driven inflation, raising risks tipping a war-stressed economy into recession.