The war(s), especially with the impact on pipelines and the Houthis taking over more of Yemen, are finally affecting fuel prices and hence turning the global economic outlook less positive.

You can print money, but you can only ""print"" oil for a short time from reserves, which the US and China have been draining.

Not just reserves, but also all the oil already on ships slowly making its way to its destination. I think I even saw someone predict that around September, the oil issue would get worse due to how slowly those ships move.

> You can print money, but you can only ""print"" oil for a short time from reserves, which the US and China have been draining.

What's different between the two is that apparently China hasn't made an equivalent dent in its oil reserves, despite no significant reduction in travel, and despite reducing its import demand by 1 OPEC.

It's not entirely clear how - but theories include shifts from flights to train travel and shifts from gasoline cars to EVs.

Apparently the main reason they have started buying crude again is not for internal consumption as much as taking advantage of the massive crack spread in refined petroleum products (like diesel) which they export.

> turning the global economic outlook less positive

Specifically, mounting inflation expectations, no? Investors wouldn't want to park their money at 4% if they expect inflation that is close or higher than that.