Business

Brent crude hit $95 a barrel on July 22 as eleven consecutive nights of US strikes on Iran collapsed fresh diplomacy prospects and both the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb faced simultaneous disruption. The double chokepoint scenario is pushing retail gasoline past $4 per gallon nationally and forcing markets to reprice the Fed's rate-cut calendar heading into the July 28-29 FOMC meeting.