The war between Israel and Hamas leads to a sharp rise in oil and gold prices: Greece faces a difficult winter

The war between Israel and Hamas has sent oil and gold prices soaring, raising serious concerns in Western societies ahead of a difficult winter ahead.

The price of Brent oil soared to $90 a barrel, an increase of almost 6%. Simultaneously with the rise in oil prices, the price of gold increased by 3.34% per day, to $1,954 per ounce. Note that when investors fear market turmoil, they turn to gold.

Western countries are already overburdened and exhausted by the funds they have spent on Ukraine in financial and military aid. The war that has broken out in the Middle East indicates that the situation will worsen.

The consequences for Greece will be unpleasant, since gasoline prices will rise sharply next week, and, according to rough estimates, by at least 10 cents per liter, if not more.

Moreover, if forecasts come true that the price of “black gold” will rise to $100 per barrel, then everything will be bad for the Greek economy. The reason for yesterday’s rise in oil prices was the introduction of US sanctions against two shipping companies that violated the oil price ceiling established by the G7 to control the “penetration” of Russian oil into the market.

“These actions underscore the Treasury’s commitment, with international partners, to reduce the Russian government’s oil profits and rein in the Russian war machine,” the US Treasury said in a statement, apparently in a world of its own.

Against this background, WTI oil, in particular, the contract for delivery in November, rose in price on the New York Mercantile Exchange by $4.78, or 5.8%, to $87.69 per barrel. On a weekly basis, it increased by 5.9%.

Meanwhile, Brent crude for December delivery strengthened $4.89, or 5.7%, to $90.89 a barrel on the ICE exchange in London. On a weekly basis, the growth was 7.5%.

Oil prices strengthened yesterday on Friday, “thanks to rising geopolitical risks,” Lukman Otunuga, director of market research at FXTM, told MarketWatch. “Escalating tensions in the Middle East, where almost a third of the world’s oil supply is concentrated, pushed prices higher, and US sanctions strengthened the upward trend,” he said. “Supply issues remain ongoing amid growing concerns that the conflict between Israel and Hamas will spread to the region, causing significant disruption in an already tight market,” Otunuga said.

The possibility of Israel launching a ground operation in the Gaza Strip over the weekend led to a significant rise in gold prices in addition to oil. According to one market analyst: “I don’t think traders would want to be short oil or gold over the weekend when there might be a war in the Middle East.”

Against this background, gold for December delivery rose in price by $58.50, or 3.1%, and reached $1,941.50 per ounce, an increase of 5.2% over the week. This is the highest level in gold prices since Sept. 22 and the biggest one-day gain since early December, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

In other metals, silver rose 4.3% to $22.78 an ounce, its first weekly gain in three weeks. Platinum rose 1.2% to $879.28, while palladium fell 0.3% to $1,141.69 to end the week in negative territory.

In general, things are not going well in the global economy. There is no need to talk about Greek, since it still completely depends on external factors.

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