Oil Leaves Bitcoin and Gold Behind Ahead of Wednesday's Fed Decision

Crude oil markets surged at the start of the week as escalating Middle East supply disruptions drove prices higher, contrasting sharply with pullbacks across cryptocurrency and precious metal markets ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate decision. West Texas Intermediate gained 2.51% to trade at $102.56 per barrel, while Brent crude climbed 2.75% to $107.48 per barrel, pushing weekly crude gains up roughly 8% and crossing the $100 threshold for the first time since July. The rally followed a critical supply disruption in Saudi Arabia after drone strikes forced the shutdown of its East-West pipeline, putting an estimated 4% of global oil supplies at risk. Heightened maritime tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb corridor added further upside momentum. Meanwhile, risk assets and non-yielding commodities faced selling pressure as hotter-than-expected inflation metrics pushed Fed rate hike expectations to an 86.3% probability, dragging total crypto market cap down 4.32% to $2.62 trillion while gold and silver also retreated.