The number of ships passing through the Hormuz Strait is decreasing!

As of September 7, the navigation of merchant ships has fallen to an average of 10 ships per day over the last 10 days, the lowest since May.

Why is this important?

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial route for transporting world oil.

If fewer ships pass through here,

fewer ships
→ It becomes harder to transport crude oil
→ Crude oil prices rise
→ Prices tend to increase

This is the chain of events.

Furthermore, Iran has also indicated plans to establish a new **"navigation restriction zone"** around the strait.

Numbers to Watch

Last week,

• Brent crude: +7.6%

• WTI crude: +10%

rose sharply.

OPEC+ also kept its October production policy unchanged.

Impact on FX and Gold

This week,

Hormuz Strait
→ Crude oil price up
→ Inflation
→ the Fed
→ U.S. interest rates
→ USD/JPY and gold

This trend is important.

In particular, attention is on how far Iran will actually tighten navigation restrictions.