Oil
a.k.a. Crude oil, Crude
The world's most important commodity, and a major driver of inflation and of oil-exporting countries' currencies.
Oil powers cars, ships, planes and plastics, so its price ripples through the whole economy. Traders mostly follow two benchmarks: West Texas Intermediate (WTI) in the US and Brent from the North Sea. Supply decisions by OPEC and its allies, wars, and the health of the global economy all yank the price around.
In forex, oil is everywhere. It props up petrocurrencies like the Canadian dollar and Norwegian krone, it squeezes big importers like Japan and India, and it feeds straight into inflation, which steers central banks.
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