Saudi outages push Brent near $100; Bitcoin below $80k

On Sept. 8, attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement halted operations at some Saudi energy facilities. Brent futures briefly reached $99.46 and spot Brent touched $101 intraday before trading near $98.63. Bitcoin traded around $78,300, down about 1.5% over 24 hours and roughly 20% higher over the past 30 days.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the August Consumer Price Index on Sept. 11 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. That report measures prices in August and cannot reflect the Sept. 8 disruptions. The September CPI is scheduled for Oct. 14. The Federal Reserve meets Sept. 15-16 and will do so with consumer-price and labor data that predate the latest energy events.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller earlier noted that continued disinflation would incline him to support holding rates, while hotter inflation in August could lead him to consider a rate increase. He identified renewed energy-price gains as an upside risk and added that earlier fears of broad spillovers from higher energy costs had not materialized so far.

Labor-market figures that informed the Fed’s outlook also predate the attacks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 162,000 jobs added in August and an unemployment rate of 4.1% in its early September release.

Markets showed an immediate response to the disruptions and the timing gap between events and official data. Bitcoin’s monthly gains remained largely intact despite the intraday decline, while the rise in crude coincided with declines in broader risk assets. Whether oil prices remain elevated will affect how future inflation readings reflect energy costs.

The supply interruptions cited on Sept. 8 reduced near-term output at multiple sites, which pushed oil prices higher during trading. Any sustained change in supply or oil prices would appear in price indices published after August and could be reflected in subsequent CPI releases.