Oil Prices Rise for Fourth Day as Hormuz Traffic Slows

Crude oil prices extended their gains for the fourth day today as fresh tanker-tracking data suggests traffic via the Strait of Hormuz has slowed further amid harder rhetoric from both Iran and the United States, with both sides demonstrating an unwillingness to return to the negotiating table. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $91.53 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands for $85.47 per barrel, two days after the expiration of the June ceasefire deal the U.S. and Iran had agreed, which broke down in early July.…