Oil Prices Continue to Climb as Wall Street Braces for Showdown with Iran

The U.S. crude oil benchmark rallied nearly 2.5% on Wednesday, with Brent crude not far behind, as Wall Street held its breath over an anticipated response by Iran to Israel’s assassination of the Hamas leader on Iranian territory.  On Wednesday at 1:09 p.m. ET, WTI was trading up 2.53% (compared to gains of nearly 3.5% just an hour earlier), at $75.05. Brent crude was trading up 2.28% at $78.22, still failing to breach the $80 mark.  News reports of Israel stockpiling blood supplies and shoring up their underground bunkers in preparation…