Oil Prices Fall as Traders Bet on U.S.-Iran Deal

Oil prices dropped by around 4% early on Wednesday as hopes of a U.S.-Iran deal outweighed concerns about rapidly drawing inventories as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed on the back of fresh U.S.-Iran hostilities. As of early Wednesday trade in Europe, WTI Crude, the U.S. benchmark, is down by 4.32% at $89.83 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, had fallen 3.66% to $95.94, remaining below the $100 a barrel mark for the third consecutive day. Traders and speculators appear ho