Oil Cools Slightly After a 4-Year High as Gasoline Jumps

Oil dipped.

• The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was about $108 a barrel on Friday morning. That was down more than 2 percent for the day, sinking from highs and volatile trading on Thursday.

• Brent reached a four-year high Thursday, when it rose above $120 a barrel as peace talks between the United States and Iran remained shaky.

• West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was around $101 a barrel, down more than 3 percent for the day.

• President Trump has maintained that the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passageway south of Iran, will continue unless Tehran gives up its nuclear program.

Gasoline prices rose.

• Gas prices rose again on Friday, jumping to a national average of $4.39 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. That was a more than 2 percent increase from the day before, the largest daily percentage rise since early March. The cost for drivers has gone up nearly 50 percent since the war began on Feb. 28.

• Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.

• Diesel prices have increased even more quickly, moving to $5.57 on Friday, up almost $2 a gallon since the start of the war.

Stocks ticked up.

• The S&P 500 rose about 0.8 percent in early trading on Friday.

• Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas, were mixed. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was up nearly 0.4 percent, but the Kospi index in Korea was down more than 1 percent.

• In Europe the Stoxx 600, a broad-index that tracks the region’s largest companies, rose about 0.06 percent.

• Many markets in Asia and Europe were closed on Friday for a holiday, leading to a lower trading volume.

What they are saying:

• Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said during a Friday call with analysts that demand for oil reserves will rise after the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

• “There will be a period of time where players, markets, governments, countries, try to refill and replenish those inventories,” Mr. Woods said. “That’s going to bring an additional level of demand into the marketplace, which we think is going to put upward pressure on prices.”

• “People are going to reassess their energy security,” he added. “And how they ensure that, going forward, that they don’t have the same exposure that many of them have realized here in the short term.”

• Michael Wirth, the chief executive of Chevron, said on Friday that the war could change the future of the energy industry. “It’s early, I think, to have firm conclusions about how the energy system will change in the long term,” Mr. Worth told analysts on a call. “I do think there will be changes, but I think we have to see how things play out over the coming weeks.”