Triple-digit trouble

Amid ongoing war tensions, including President Trump's mixed signals on Iran negotiations, Marketplace examines the "economy yet to come." The episode centers on oil prices surpassing $100 a barrel, rising bond yields signaling inflation risks, and potential drags on jobs and growth, alongside briefer looks at small banks' deposit struggles and utility deregulation efforts.

Oil Hits Triple Digits on Prolonged Conflict Fears

West Texas Intermediate crude rose over 5% to nearly $105 a barrel, up from the $60s a month prior—a pace petroleum engineering professor Hugh Daigle at UT Austin called restrained given the war's persistence. Markets now price in lasting disruption, as infrastructure damage in the Persian Gulf and a closed Strait of Hormuz would delay any price drop; oil prices "go up like a rocket and come down like a feather." Gulf Oil's Tom Closa noted $100 oil pushes U.S. gas above $4 a gallon soon, a psychological threshold triggering "demand destruction" via reduced driving and spending. Wood Mackenzie's Alan Gelder highlighted the International Energy Agency's 400 million barrel reserves lasting about a month; sustained $125 oil could halve global GDP growth, with $150 posing serious economic danger.