Brent crude closed Friday at $109.69 a barrel, after Investing.com reported that it touched $110 for the first time since May. In our data Brent is up 80.3% since the end of last year and 79.6% from a year ago. WTI, the US benchmark, closed at $99.04, up 72.5% this year.
The rally is large but not at its peak. Brent’s 52-week high is $126.10, so Friday’s close is 13% below it; WTI is 17% under its own high of $119.48. A year ago both benchmarks were far lower: Brent’s 52-week low is $58.72 and WTI’s is $54.98.
What the news says is behind it
OilPrice.com reported that Brent held near $105 earlier in the week amid what it called Iranian tanker attacks and multiple geopolitical conflicts. Investing.com pointed to attacks around the Strait of Hormuz and to uncertainty about a US–Russian diesel deal. Oil rose again toward the close of the week on supply fears.
Why the level matters
Brent is the reference for most seaborne crude, so moves in it feed through to fuel costs and to inflation expectations, which in turn affect gold and the dollar. Investing.com also flagged that WTI and Brent are near overbought readings on short-term technical indicators; that describes momentum, not a forecast.
See live prices and performance on the Brent and WTI pages.