{"id":66367,"date":"2026-08-11T21:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/oil-prices-climb-amid-middle-east-tensions-commonwealth-bank-posts-record-profit\/66367\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:08:13","slug":"oil-prices-climb-amid-middle-east-tensions-commonwealth-bank-posts-record-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/oil-prices-climb-amid-middle-east-tensions-commonwealth-bank-posts-record-profit\/66367\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Prices Climb Amid Middle East Tensions; Commonwealth Bank Posts Record Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Oil prices<\/a> surged<\/strong> as Brent crude rose 0.8% to <strong>$89.63<\/strong> and WTI climbed to <strong>$83.91<\/strong> due to fading hopes for a U.S.-Iran peace deal and continued closure of the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commonwealth Bank of Australia (<a href=\"\/stock\/CBA\">CBA<\/a>)<\/strong> reported a record <strong>A$10.98 billion<\/strong> full-year cash profit, up 7%, while warning of rising loan arrears due to cost-of-living pressures.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AI demand remains robust<\/strong> as CoreWeave (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRWV\">CRWV<\/a>) surged <strong>14%<\/strong> in extended trading after raising its 2026 revenue outlook and capital expenditure forecast to <strong>$35B\u2013$39B<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geopolitical risks intensified<\/strong> following a <strong>North Korean ballistic missile launch<\/strong> toward the Sea of Japan and reports of a secret aircraft swap for <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> amid assassination threats.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A magnitude 7.4 earthquake<\/strong> in Colombia has left at least <strong>254 people dead<\/strong> and thousands missing, prompting a national emergency declaration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Energy Markets and Geopolitical Tensions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Crude oil prices<\/strong> extended their gains for a sixth consecutive session as uncertainty over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement kept traders cautious. <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> rose to <strong>$89.63 a barrel<\/strong>, while <strong>West Texas Intermediate (WTI)<\/strong> climbed to <strong>$83.91<\/strong>, driven by reports that the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>\u2014which handled 20% of global oil flows\u2014will remain closed. <em>Market volatility is expected to persist<\/em> as both Washington and Tehran appear to have hardened their positions, with President Trump demanding reparations from Iran for war-related damages.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate security development, reports emerged that <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> was secretly transferred to a military C-32A jet via a catering truck while in Turkey to evade a specific <strong>Iranian assassination threat<\/strong>. The ruse involved using the traditional <strong>Air Force One<\/strong> as a decoy, leaving some staff and reporters on the original aircraft. Trump later stated that the flight change was made in accordance with <strong>Secret Service guidance<\/strong> and noted that his usual aircraft is exposed to greater risk.<\/p>\n<h2>Financial Results and Corporate Outlook<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Commonwealth Bank of Australia (<a href=\"\/stock\/CBA\">CBA<\/a>)<\/strong> posted a record annual cash profit of <strong>A$10.98 billion<\/strong>, exceeding analyst estimates of A$10.85 billion. The bank declared a final dividend of <strong>A$2.70 per share<\/strong>, bringing the total FY26 payout to <strong>A$5.05<\/strong>. Despite the strong performance, CEO Matt Comyn warned that <strong>home loan arrears<\/strong> rose to 0.73% as high interest rates and inflation began to impact consumer portfolios.<\/p>\n<p>In the technology sector, <strong>CoreWeave (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRWV\">CRWV<\/a>)<\/strong> shares jumped <strong>14%<\/strong> after the neocloud provider reported a massive revenue backlog of <strong>$104.2 billion<\/strong>. The company, which has deep ties to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>)<\/strong>, raised its annual capital spending forecast to a range of <strong>$35 billion to $39 billion<\/strong> to meet relentless AI demand. Similarly, <strong>Super Micro Computer (<a href=\"\/stock\/SMCI\">SMCI<\/a>)<\/strong> gained more than <strong>7%<\/strong> following a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the coming year.<\/p>\n<h2>Global Economic and Political Developments<\/h2>\n<p>Investors are closely monitoring Wednesday&#39;s <strong>U.S. CPI report<\/strong>, with economists expecting headline inflation to rise <strong>0.1% in July<\/strong>. A softer reading could ease pressure on the <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong>, though renewed energy-price inflation remains a hawkish risk. The <strong>10-year Treasury yield<\/strong> currently hovers around <strong>4.69%<\/strong>, while the <strong>Yen<\/strong> remains near <strong>159.28 per dollar<\/strong>, keeping currency intervention concerns at the forefront.<\/p>\n<p>In regional news, <strong>North Korea<\/strong> launched a ballistic missile that traveled over <strong>700 kilometers<\/strong> toward the Sea of Japan, an act South Korean officials labeled a provocation ahead of planned joint military drills. In <strong>South Carolina<\/strong>, a Republican Senate primary for the seat of the late Lindsey Graham is heading to a runoff; <strong>Darline Graham<\/strong>, endorsed by Trump, will face either <strong>Ralph Norman<\/strong> or <strong>Russell Frye<\/strong> on August 25. Meanwhile, rescue operations continue in <strong>Colombia<\/strong> following a devastating <strong>7.4 magnitude earthquake<\/strong> in the Choc\u00f3 region that has caused widespread infrastructure disruption and significant casualties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Oil prices surged as Brent crude rose 0.8% to $89.63 and WTI climbed to $83.91 due to fading [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[595,970,4154,4223,4461,6682,8651,21439],"class_list":["post-66367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-smci","tag-wti","tag-crwv","tag-inflation","tag-crude-oil","tag-north-korea","tag-cba","tag-colombia-earthquake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}