Crude oil prices are up and down amidst more fighting in Middle East

It’s as though world oil prices aren’t sure what to do with the increased U.S. military attacks and pressure on Iran to stop its attacks on Strait of Hormuz cargo ships. Investors appear to be almost unfazed by the renewed fighting.

On Wednesday, they initially fell more than 1% in the morning hours even as a new wave of U.S. attacks were made against Iranian military installations, then later in the day they made a slight gain.

By mid-afternoon, Brent futures stood at $85.17 with a gain of $0.44 or 0.52%.

West Texas Intermediate crude was $79.84 after an increase of $0.50 or 0.63% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Washington had earlier reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched overnight strikes, prompting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to threaten to close “all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies”.

Oil prices settled up 2% at a one-month high on Tuesday as attacks exacerbated a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the war’s outbreak.

Natural gas also recorded a small gain in Wednesday’s trading, settling at $2.928 MMBtu with an increase of $0.024 or 0.83%.

Another down day for Oklahoma Energy stocks. Most experienced losses of 1% to 2% but USA Rare Earth had a nearly 5% drop on the day.

On the reverse side, Stardust Power rose 5%.