Ships go dark as the clock runs out on Trump’s ‘undeclared naval war’ in the Strait of Hormuz

Good morning. On Fortune’s radar today:

Trump has an “undeclared naval war” in the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil goes up as the clock ticks down to the midterms. 

Markets: Mostly down.

Chipmakers are vacuuming up hyperscaler cash.

Tariff revenue is now close to zero.

Is the K-shaped economy coming to an end?

Wall Street is paying interns up to $86,000 for just 10 weeks work.

📬 Would you prefer to receive this information in your email inbox every morning before the markets open in New York? Sign up here.

Ships go dark in "undeclared naval war" in the Strait of Hormuz

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz got worse over the weekend as the U.S. hit 140 targets in Iran overnight, and in response Iran targeted sites in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman. (Live coverage from the BBC here.)

The Joint Maritime Information Center told the Financial Times that the southern route near the Oman coastline remained open to shipping: “U.S. forces are prepared to maintain freedom of navigation and safeguard lawful commerce in accordance with international law.” 

But it said the threat level was “severe”. Very few ships are moving through the Strait. Data from Shipfinder.com shows only 23 transits in the last 24 hours and Bloomberg reported that those vessels that are making the run are doing so in secret, with their transponders turned off.

Brent crude oil hit $77 per barrel this morning, up from $71 a week ago.

President Trump is running out of time to solve the crisis before the November midterm elections, Fortune’s energy editor, Jordan Blum, says:

“Nearly 1 billion barrels of worldwide petroleum reserves are now depleted and not being replenished. At the same time, mothballed refineries have yet to come back online, China still hasn’t resumed importing large oil volumes, and now President Donald Trump has declared the interim peace deal ‘over’ amid new drone and rocket exchanges.”

“The reality is there’s no clear, long-term peace deal in sight, even if a full resumption of conflict is avoided. That means the Strait of Hormuz is unlikely to return to its normal volumes for many months, and certainly not in time for the anticipated spike in demand when China and refiners start buying more oil again, energy analysts told Fortune. Prices are going to surge again—likely close to $90 per barrel—despite the world learning to adapt and avoid doomsday scenarios of $200 oil, they said.”

So why isn’t oil........

© Fortune