By Hanna Ziady, CNN
London (CNN) — Oil prices rebounded Wednesday, as worries about a prolonged supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz outweighed a report of a potential record release of oil reserves.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, gained around 4% to trade above $91 a barrel after falls earlier in the day. WTI, the US benchmark, rose about 4.5% to around $87 a barrel.
The rally in prices followed sharp declines Tuesday, suggesting traders may be skeptical that a reported proposal by the International Energy Agency to release oil reserves will be enough to offset the current oil supply shock.
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported the IEA would propose to release as much as 400 million barrels of oil into the market from various countries’ strategic petroleum reserves. That would easily exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that they put onto the market in two tranches in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Group of Seven nations are expected to decide on the proposal Wednesday, the Journal reported, citing officials. CNN has contacted the IEA for comment.
“Depending on the actual size of the reserve release, we could see some capping in oil prices in the coming days,” said Francesco Pesole, a strategist at Dutch bank ING, noting that 20 million barrels a day are currently being lost as a result of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“However, (the release of oil reserves) is a temporary measure, and only military de-escalation can drive crude sustainably lower,” he wrote in a note.
At least for now, there are few signs of de-escalation in the conflict. Iran said early Wednesday that it had launched its “most intense and heaviest operation” since the start of the war, according to state media, while Israel announced an additional wave of strikes on Tehran.
Also on Wednesday, three vessels were reported to have been hit by unknown projectiles near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK maritime agency.
Ordinarily, about a fifth of global oil production flows through the strait daily. The near-blockade of the waterway has caused crude prices to soar, with Brent still about 26% above the $73 level it was trading at before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. WTI is trading about 31% higher.
On Monday, both prices surged above $100 a barrel for the first time in almost four years, only to plunge the following day. Brent crude settled more than 11% lower Tuesday, from the previous day’s close, at $87.80 a barrel – its largest one-day decline since March 2022.
The drop was largely driven by earlier comments from US President Donald Trump that the war would be over “very soon,” as well as an announcement by Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil producer, that it would ramp up crude flows via its pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing it to resume 70% of its usual oil shipments.
“Until we move onto the next big event, markets continue to be driven by volatile news flow around Iran and the outlook for oil flows,” Jim Reid, head of global macroeconomic research at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note Wednesday. “Overall, the narrative has shifted towards a cautiously more optimistic tone, even as there’s little sign of an imminent end to the conflict.”
Stock markets were mixed Wednesday, highlighting the disparate signals coming from oil markets. In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi finished 1.4% higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei fell. European markets were down across the board
By Manu Raju, Ellis Kim, CNN
DORAL, Florida (CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team have been struggling to find consensus behind an election-year agenda to address Americans’ chief concerns over affordability and their cost-of-living.
But now they have a new problem: Rising gas prices.
After hammering Democrats relentlessly over $5-per-gallon gasoline, a threshold that was crossed when Joe Biden was president, Republicans are confronting a similar dilemma in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war against Iran. Gas prices are threatening to spike indefinitely with the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint where roughly 20% of crude oil shipments pass through, virtually shut down as a result of the conflict.
Republicans are left with this message: Just hope that the war ends soon and crude oil prices settle in time for November.
“Temporary blip,” Johnson asserted.
“Snapshot in time,” said Rep. Lisa McClain, the No. 4 House Republican.
“Short-term volatility,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York.
Others – like Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri – said Republicans need to convince voters to stomach the pain.
“I think it’s our job to help bring people along to them and explain what’s at stake,” Alford said. “I’m willing to pay 30% or 30 cents more at the pump to make sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon that’s going to hit the United States.”
It’s not what the GOP thought they’d be discussing weeks ago, as they hashed out their agenda for their three-day retreat here at Trump’s golf resort in Doral. But as Iran is now dominating their focus, they’re running short on time – and votes – to execute their agenda.
Johnson is leaning hard on Republicans to get behind another big legislative push this spring – in the wake of successfully enacting Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” last summer. But he’s facing growing doubts from within his own conference and in the Senate.
And even his top taxwriter, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, says it’s time to drop the effort.
“We have a smaller majority now than what we did when we passed the first reconciliation bill,” Smith told CNN, referring to the fast-track budget process Republicans used to pass the measure along party lines in the Senate. “I said all along that we needed to do one big, beautiful bill because I never saw a pathway that two different reconciliations would happen. I would love to do two reconciliations, but I’m also a realist.”
Some Republicans think they’ll need to pass a party-line bill to replenish munitions stocks depleted in the Iranian war effort. Otherwise, they’ll need at least seven Democrats in the Senate to help them overcome a filibuster and pass new funding.
But Republicans had an excruciatingly difficult time wrangling the votes to pass Trump’s massive bill last summer. And with an even slimmer House majority now, leaders will need near unanimity in their conference to get anything out of the House. Any member with an objection to the legislation would have outsized leverage in influencing it – and there are sharp divisions on what to include in the bill and how to pay for it.
Plus Johnson hasn’t even laid out what he wants to see in a new election-year bill that he says will focus on cost-of-living issues, indicating he is still trying to get consensu
Por CNN en Español
Irán comienza a instalar minas en el estrecho de Ormuz, según fuentes. Agentes de ICE violan normas cuando usan armas menos letales. ¿Cuál es la historia detrás de la película “Marty Supreme”? Esto es lo que debes saber para comenzar el día. Primero la verdad.
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La economía de EE.UU. ha demostrado una notable resiliencia durante años, resistiendo la inflación histórica de los tiempos de pandemia, la gasolina a US$ 5 por galón, una drástica desaceleración en las contrataciones y la lucha de la Reserva Federal contra el aumento de precios. Ahora, la economía enfrenta una nueva prueba: una guerra real.
Irán comenzó a colocar minas en el estrecho de Ormuz, el punto estratégico más importante en materia energética del mundo por el que transita aproximadamente una quinta parte de todo el petróleo crudo, según dos personas familiarizadas con los informes de inteligencia de Estados Unidos sobre el tema.
Un análisis de CNN de más de dos docenas de videos en los que se ve a agentes federales usando armas menos letales, como aerosoles químicos, pistolas de bolas de pimienta y balas de goma, encontró que los funcionarios violaban rutinariamente las políticas de uso de la fuerza de las agencias del orden federales y locales.
CNN, LISA BLANCHETTE, CHRISTIAN TELLO, WBBM, WLS, LETICIA MARIE CRANFORD, SELENA JANE CASTILLO
By CNN meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Chris Dolce, Briana Waxman and CNN’s Hanna Park, CNN
(CNN) — Dangerous storms with tornadoes and giant hail tore across the central US overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. As storms push east early Wednesday, the main concerns shift to flash flooding and damaging winds.
Storms are ongoing from Texas to the Great Lakes, leaving over 70,000 customers without power, about a third of them in Texas.
Injuries and widespread damage were reported in parts of Illinois and Indiana, according to officials.
A tornado tracked through the Kankakee, Illinois, area Tuesday evening.
Drone video from Kankakee County showed buildings torn apart and debris scattered across neighborhoods after a tornado moved through Tuesday evening. Emergency crews navigated the wreckage overnight with flashlights, stepping over splintered lumber and fallen trees as they searched damaged homes.
Kankakee Mayor Christopher W. Curtis told CNN there are no deaths or missing people in the county, though seven individuals sustained minor injuries. Several homes and commercial buildings were damaged, and multiple roads remain closed due to downed trees and power lines.
Brandy Peppin said she had only minutes of warning before the storm reached her house. Her brother called to say he could see the tornado heading straight toward her home.
“Thank God,” Peppin told CNN. “And I ran, grabbed my dog who was already in the closet where we go down into the crawl space and. Literally pulled the door open. He fell into the crawl space, and I went down there and we rode the tornado out. It was so loud.”
“There would be little ‘bang bangs’ and then big ones,” she said. “You could just tell that there was debris hitting the house and hear things hitting the house — it was so loud.”
The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office activated its Emergency Operations Center and filed an emergency declaration with Illinois.
“I want to remind area residents to check on their neighbors and loved ones but to avoid unnecessary travel, if at all possible,” Sheriff Mike Downey said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he had been briefed on the storm damage and was monitoring the situation.
“Keeping in our thoughts all Illinoisans impacted by the severe weather – we’ll be here to help them recover,” he said.
Farther east, in Lake Village, a small community in northwestern Indiana, homes were destroyed in the tornado, Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Glen Fifield told CNN. There were injuries, though the number of people hurt and the severity of those injuries were not immediately available, he added.
Fifield said the extent of the damage is being assessed, including the number of homes affected.
“Lake Villages has experienced a tornado. There’s several houses that have been hit. A lot of damage. Please do not come here. Do not try