[Oil Prices] Crude falls below $100 a barrel for first time in six weeks ... Hopes for an end to the war rise after U.S. Democrats’ landslide victory

[Financial News]  

International oil prices plunged around 8% on the 4th (local time), falling below $100 a barrel. They had not been below $100 for about six weeks, since mid-September.
Vice President JD Vance’s remark that the Iran war was the reason Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in the previous day’s midterm elections triggered the sharp drop in oil prices.
Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, for delivery in January next year settled at $94.62 a barrel, down 8.7% from the previous session. It was the first time the price of a front-month Brent contract had fallen below $100 a barrel since September 22.
The December contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for U.S. oil prices, also plunged 8.3%, settling at $88.12 a barrel.
So far this week, Brent crude and WTI have each plunged around 17%.
Vice President Vance’s remarks triggered the plunge in oil prices.
Vance said on social media, “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” adding that the Iran war was the reason. He stressed that in exit polls, the most common response from Republican voters when asked why they had voted for Democratic candidates instead was a demand to “End the war.”
Seb Barker, chief market strategist (CMS) at hedge fund Marshall Wace, told the Financial Times (FT), “The market is saying that members of Congress and the administration are likely to start acting as a constraint on President Trump’s war with Iran.”
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, also voiced support for Vice President Vance’s remarks on social media platform X.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also pledged that the Democratic Party, now the new majority, would work with Republicans to end the Iran war.
However, President Trump ruled out an early end to the war.
Amid reports that he had asked aides whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who led the Iran war, should be fired, Trump told reporters at the White House ballroom construction site that he was not considering firing him.
Trump said the war with Iran had been inevitable and that if it became necessary to intensify the offensive again, he would do so.
His remarks suggested that the risk of further escalation remained, despite hopes among some market participants for an early end to the war.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter