Brent oil tops $90 after first U.S. and Iran fighting in a month

BREAKING: Brent crude tops $90 a barrel after the US and Iran exchanged fire for the first time in a month.

Brent crude just broke ninety dollars a barrel.

The trigger is the one thing oil traders had allowed themselves to stop worrying about. The US and Iran exchanged fire again, the first shots between them in a month, and that quiet spell was exactly what had been keeping a lid on prices. You can see the scene in the Gulf here, and it tells you the real story. These waters carry roughly a fifth of the world's oil, and every small boat and cargo ship out there is now pricing in risk.

A month of calm bought the market some comfort. One exchange of fire took it back in an afternoon.

So watch the pumps, watch the airlines, watch every central banker who thought inflation was finally behaving. Ninety dollar oil has a way of showing up in everything, and it just walked back in the door.

This is Dave King, reporting for HIT.