Oil prices climb as US holiday nears
Oil prices bounced back Friday—Brent crude closed at $64.13 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate hit $59.44.
This comes right before the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, with traders making moves and tensions in Iran cooling off a bit.
The rebound follows Thursday's sharp 4.6% drop, the steepest for WTI since June.
What's behind the price swings?
Protests in Iran since late December have put its oil output and key shipping routes at risk.
To add to the drama, President Trump slapped a 25% tariff on goods from Iran's trading partners.
Where could oil prices go next?
Analysts aren't on the same page about what's next:
BloombergNEF expects Brent to average $55 per barrel in 2026 but says Brent could average $91 in fourth-quarter 2026 if Iranian exports were removed and the disruption persisted through the rest of 2026, and projects a $71 average in second-quarter 2026 if exports were removed starting in February.