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The 8 April ceasefire announcement and parallel discussions around a 45-day truce have not resolved the Strait of Hormuz disruption. They have, for now, capped the worst-case scenario, but tanker traffic remains at a fraction of normal levels and Iran's demand for transit fees signals a structural shift, not a temporary one.
What began as a regional conflict has become a global energy shock, and the question for markets is no longer whether Hormuz was disrupted, but how permanently the disruption changes the pricing floor for oil.
Key takeaways
- Around 20 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil and petroleum products normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, equal to about one-fifth of global oil consumption and roughly 30% of global seaborne oil trade.
- This is a flow shock, not an inventory problem. Oil markets depend on continuous throughput, not static storage.
- If the disruption persists beyond a few weeks, Brent could shift from a short-term spike to a broader price shock, with stagflation risk.
- Tanker traffic through the strait fell from around 135 ships per day to fewer than 15 at the peak of disruption, a reduction of approximately 85%, with more than 150 vessels anchored, diverted, or delayed.
- A two-week ceasefire was announced on 8 April, with 45-day truce negotiations under way. Iran has separately signalled a demand for transit fees on vessels using the strait, which, if formalised, would represent a permanent geopolitical floor on energy costs.
- Markets have begun rotating away from growth and technology exposure toward energy and defence names, reflecting a view that elevated oil is becoming a structural cost rather than a temporary risk premium.
The world’s most critical oil chokepoint
The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly 20 million barrels per day of oil and petroleum products, equal to about 20% of global oil consumption and around 30% of global seaborne oil trade. With global oil demand near 104 million bpd and spare capacity limited, the market was already tightly balanced before the latest escalation.
The strait is also a critical corridor for liquefied natural gas. Around 290 million cubic metres of LNG transited the route each day on average in 2024, representing roughly 20% of global LNG trade, with Asian markets the main destination.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has described Hormuz as the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, noting that even partial interruptions may trigger outsized price moves. Brent crude has moved above US$100 a barrel, reflecting both physical tightness and a rising geopolitical risk premium.
Tankers idle as flows slow
Shipping and insurance data now point to strain in real time. More than 85 large crude carriers are reported to be stranded in the Persian Gulf, while more than 150 vessels have been anchored, diverted or delayed as operators reassess safety and insurance cover. That would leave an estimated 120 million to 150 million barrels of crude sitting idle at sea.
Those volumes represent only six to seven days of normal Hormuz throughput, or a little more than one day of global oil consumption.
Updated shipping and insurance data now confirm more than 150 vessels have been anchored, diverted, or delayed, up from the 85 initially reported. The 1.3 days of global consumption coverage from idle crude remains the binding constraint: this is a flow shock, not a storage problem, and the ceasefire has not yet translated into meaningfully restored throughput.
A market built on flow, not storage
Oil markets function on continuous movement. Refineries, petrochemical plants and global supply chains are calibrated to steady deliveries along predictable sea lanes. When flows through a chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption and around 30% of global seaborne oil trade are interrupted, the system can move from equilibrium to deficit within days.
Spare production capacity, largely concentrated within OPEC, is estimated at only 3 million to 5 million bpd. That falls well short of the volumes at risk if Hormuz flows are severely disrupted.
Oil market analysis
How long do idle tankers last?
135M idle barrels — days of cover against each demand benchmark
vs. Strait of Hormuz daily flow (20M bbl/day)
vs. Global oil consumption (104M bbl/day)
vs. US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release (1M bbl/day)
135M
idle barrels on tankers (midpoint of 120–150M range)
~33%
of daily Hormuz flow that is idle storage, not transit
<31 hrs
is all idle storage against global daily consumption
Inflation risks and macro spillovers
The inflationary impact of an oil shock typically arrives in waves. Higher fuel and energy prices may lift headline inflation quickly as petrol, diesel and power costs move higher.
Over time, higher energy costs may pass through freight, food, manufacturing and services. If the disruption persists, the combination of elevated inflation and slower growth could raise the risk of a stagflationary environment and leave central banks facing a difficult trade-off.
No easy offset, a system with little slack
What makes the current episode particularly acute is the lack of slack in the global system.
Global supply and demand near 103 million to 104 million bpd leave little spare cushion when a chokepoint handling nearly 20 million bpd, or about one-fifth of global oil consumption, is compromised. Estimated spare capacity of 3 million to 5 million bpd, mostly within OPEC, would cover only a fraction of the volumes at risk.
Alternative routes, including pipelines that bypass Hormuz and rerouted shipping, can only partly offset lost flows, and usually at higher cost and with longer lead times.
Bottom line
Until transit through the Strait of Hormuz is restored and seen as credibly secure, global oil flows are likely to remain impaired and risk premia elevated. For investors, policymakers and corporate decision-makers, the core question is whether oil can move where it needs to go, every day, without interruption.
It has been an eventful week over in the United States this week. Some of the major companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Tesla announced their latest earnings. The Federal Reserve kept their interest rates unchanged at 0.25%.
We also saw the US GDP expand by 4% in Q4 of 2020. However, these were not the most talked-about events this week. Major hedge-funds on Wall Street were left with huge losses after it bet against a struggling American gaming company GameStop by short-selling its shares.
What is short-selling? Short-selling is when an investor speculates that a stock or security will fall in price in the future. The investor borrows the stock or security from a broker and immediately sells it with the hope of buying it back at a lower price.
Gains from short selling are limited as a stock can only go to 0. The losses do not have a cap as there is no limit as to how high a stock’s price may jump. What happened?
The ''short'' bet did not pay off for the big players on Wall Street after amateur traders rallied together on social media sites to take on the hedge-funds and pump the price of gaming retailer GameStop to new levels. The share price of the GameStop has surged by over 1,550% this year alone after trading at $17 at the beginning of January. The stock ended the trading day at the $193 level on Thursday, rising up to the $261 level in post-market hours.
The White House said it was ''monitoring'' the latest price surge in GameStop and other stocks. Hedge-funds and others that bet against GameStop have collectively lost more than $5bn, according to data analytics company S3. Source: TradingView It is an interesting time on Wall Street and it is definitely worth keeping an eye on the future developments moving forward.
One of the must-watch economic events this week will be the Bank of Canada interest rate decision. The decision is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday at 14:00 PM London time. It will be the first meeting since the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The bank has increased its interest rates four times since July of last year, so will there be another hike? Why Is The Announcement Important? A bank interest rate is a rate at which a countries central bank lends money to local banks.
The interest rate is charged by nations central or federal bank on loans advances to control the money supply in the economy and the banking sector. The Bank of Canada has an inflation target of 1% to 2% (currently 2.8%), and the interest rates are changed accordingly to meet the target. Therefore, the Bank of Canada’s and other central bank rate decisions can have a significant impact on the financial markets.
Expectations In a recent speech, Stephen Poloz, the Governor of Bank of Canada said he continues to believe gradually increasing interest rates is the right approach. According to the latest forecasts, it is highly anticipated that the Bank of Canada will raise its interest rates in the upcoming meeting from 1.5% to 1.75%, potentially a fifth rate hike since July 2017. "We expect the Bank to hike this month, in addition to hiking four more times in 2019, as the BoC’s measure of core inflation touched 2.0% for the first time since 2012 in August and is facing increased capacity constraints," said Daniel Hui, an analyst at J.P. Morgan. "This [October] hike was already well anticipated by markets even before the USMCA breakthrough (80% priced before, 90%+ priced now), so it is the forward-looking rhetoric that might imply future pace and terminal rate that is more important for markets to monitor," says Hui.
All eyes will be on the decision on Wednesday. This article is written by a GO Markets Analyst and is based on their independent analysis. They remain fully responsible for the views expressed as well as any remaining error or omissions.
Trading Forex and Derivatives carries a high level of risk. Sources: Go Markets MT4, Google, Datawrapper
The Buraeu of Labor Statistics have released the latest jobs report for April. Let’s take a look at the latest numbers. The total non-farm payroll employment increased by 263,000 the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, beating the forecast of 190,000. Biggest job gains were in professional and business services, construction, health care, and social assistance. Professional and business services added 76,000 Construction added 33,000 Employment in health grew by 27,000 Social assistance added 26,000 The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since December 1969 to 3.6% beating the forecast of 3.8%.
The number of unemployed persons decreased by 387,000 to 5.8 million. The average hourly earnings remained unchanged at 3.2%, below the forecast of 3.3%. USDCAD – Hourly USDJPY – Hourly The next US jobs report is on 7th June.
This article is written by a GO Markets Analyst and is based on their independent analysis. They remain fully responsible for the views expressed as well as any remaining error or omissions. Trading Forex and Derivatives carries a high level of risk.
Sources: Go Markets MT4, Google, Datawrapper,
The electric vehicle industry has had a tough few weeks with the global chip and battery shortages affecting electric vehicle manufacturers around the world. Despite that, Tesla delivered 184,800 vehicles in Q1 of 2021, exceeding the number of vehicles produced (180,338). The deliveries consisted of 182,780 Model 3 and Model Y.
The rest (2,020) were made up by Model S. The latest figures mark a 109% improvement from Q1 in 2020 when the company delivered 88,400 vehicles. The latest figures also put the company on track to beat last year’s deliveries of 499,500, which was just shy of Elon Musk’s target of 500,000. ''Our net income and cash flow results will be announced along with the rest of our financial performance when we announce Q1 earnings.
Our delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct. Final numbers could vary by up to 0.5% or more. Tesla vehicle deliveries represent only one measure of the company’s financial performance and should not be relied on as an indicator of quarterly financial results, which depend on a variety of factors, including the cost of sales, foreign exchange movements and mix of directly leased vehicles'' – statement read on the company’s website following the latest delivery numbers.
Tesla – Monthly Chart Source: TradingView With the Tesla reporting strong numbers for Q1, the price target was also increased by Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. Ives lifted his price target on the stock to $1,000 a share from $950, with a "bull case" level of $1,300. "In our opinion, the first quarter delivery numbers released on Friday was a paradigm changer and shows that the pent-up demand globally for Tesla's Model 3/Y is hitting its next stage of growth as part of a global green tidal wave underway," Ives said. "With a green tidal wave kicked off by Biden last week in the US, and global EV demand skyrocketing going after a $5 trillion (total addressable market) over the next decade, we believe these delivery numbers are a paradigm and sentiment shifter for the space going forward." You can trade Tesla (TSLA) and many other stocks from the ASX, NYSE, and the NASDAQ with GO Markets as a Share CFD. Click here for more information.
Trading Derivatives carries a high level of risk.
805,734,252 – that’s how many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given globally so far as of the 12 th April (from 185 locations), according to Our World in Data. Israel, Bahrain and Chile are leading the way with 54.7%, 24.7% and 24.6% of the population fully vaccinated. With more and more people getting the jab across the world, the chance of side effects becomes more likely.
We have already seen the AstraZeneca vaccine being suspended for use for in few countries. Today, it was announced that the US agencies are calling to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout after reports of extremely rare blood clot cases. Following the FDA and CDC advice, all federal sites in the US have stopped using the vaccine until further investigation.
European Union and South Africa have also confirmed that they will temporally stop the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson jab. The share price of Johnson & Johnson was down by around 1.34% following the latest news on their vaccine, trading at $159.48 per share the close. The stock is up by 1.57% year-to-date.
Johnson & Johnson - YTD Chart Source: TradingView You can trade Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and many other stocks from the ASX, NYSE, and the NASDAQ with GO Markets as a Share CFD. Click here for more information. Trading Derivatives carries a high level of risk.
With the Brexit negations dominating the news flow over the last few weeks, you may forget there are other events taking place. On Thursday, the European Central Bank will announce its decision whether to increase, decrease or maintain the interest rates. The decision is scheduled to be announced at 12:45 PM UK time.
Why Is The Announcement Important? The European Central Bank is the central bank for the Eurozone, the countries which have adopted the Euro, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. ECB’s decision to increase, decrease or maintain the interest rate has a significant impact on the financial markets because changes in interest rates affect the exchange rate of the Euro, so it is one of the must-watch economic events in the calendar.
Expectations The European Central Bank has not changed its interest rates since March 2016 and analysts are forecasting that the rates will also remain unchanged in the upcoming meeting. All eyes will be on the European Central Banks President, Mario Draghi’s speech shortly after making the announcement. Hot topics will involve the Italian and the Brexit process, which has developed into complete chaos.
The French budget is another issue to address for the ECB after the French President Emmanuel Macron gave in to the recent anti-government protests by the ''yellow vest'' movement which will cause France to exceed the European Union’s budget deficit ceiling next year. Other ECB data releases to keep an eye out: ECB Marginal Lending Facility (12:45 PM London time) Previous: 0.25% Forecast: 0.25% ECB Deposit Facility Rate (12:45 PM London time) Previous: -0.40% Forecast: -0.40% This article is written by a GO Markets Analyst and is based on their independent analysis. They remain fully responsible for the views expressed as well as any remaining error or omissions.
Trading Forex and Derivatives carries a high level of risk. Sources: Go Markets MT4, Google, Datawrapper