Oil Surges Over 7% to Above $102 Ahead of US Hormuz Blockade Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. April 13, 2026 © Rodrigo / Adobe Stock Oil prices surged on Monday as the U.S. moved to impose a blockade on Iranian shipping after the collapse of weekend peace talks, while the dollar rose and stocks and bonds fell. The U.S. move, aimed at putting pressure on Tehran, leaves a fragile ceasefire hanging in the balance and no end in sight to the choke on Middle East energy exports - though the mood on trading floors leaned toward hoping for a resolution. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 7% at $102 a barrel - a gain of more than 40% since the war shut navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. Europe's STOXX 600 index .STOXX was down 0.8%, while S&P 500 futures ESc1 fell 0.6%. U.S. Treasuries traded lower, leaving yields on benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR up 2 basis points at 4.33%, while bonds in Europe also came under modest pressure, pushing benchmark German 10-year yields up 1 bp to 3.06% DE10YT=RR. "Markets, as the week gets underway, are trading in rather ‘textbook’ risk-off fashion, as participants reach once more for the ‘conflict escalation’ playbook," Pepperstone strategist Michael Brown said. "Losses are seen elsewhere, with equity futures in the red on both sides of the pond, gold rolling over, and govvies facing some headwinds too. All these moves, though, it must be said, are relatively contained in the grand scheme of things," he said. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump and his advisers were weighing limited strikes on Iran, though there were no immediate reports of attacks in the Asia day. Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high into the midterm elections in the U.S. in November, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from the war. "The market is now largely back to conditions before the ceasefire, except now the U.S. will block the remaining up to (2 million barrels) Iranian-linked flows through the Strait