A third oil chokepoint opened overnight in Kazakhstan and WTI fell almost five percent anyway, on reports that Pakistan and China are trying to revive US-Iran talks. The ten year Treasury yield did not move off Thursday's cycle high, and that gap is the story heading into next week's Fed decision.

The TSX fell 0.82% a day after a record close, as oil past $100 lifted energy but hit yield-sensitive banks. Energy and utilities were the only sectors to gain.

Two Saudi tankers struck in the Red Sea push Brent past $100 for the first time since May. The muted reaction across the TSX and gold suggests markets still treat this as tail risk, not the base case.

Headline CPI eased to 2.8% on a temporary drop in gasoline prices. With Brent back above $100 and new tariffs landing before the Bank's next decision, the disinflation may not survive July.

Wednesday's record TSX close and Thursday's reversal, paired with gold's drop as Brent crossed $100, show why recent and vivid moves distort judgment more than the data itself.

The Geopolitical desk this morning called a successful strike on a laden tanker the tail risk, not the base case. By early afternoon the Houthis had claimed exactly that, and gold's failure to rally on it is the tell that this has become an inflation story rather than a fear story.

Bab el-Mandeb traffic carrying Saudi crude surged more than tenfold this year as producers routed around Strait of Hormuz risk. A new Houthi blockade threat is closing that alternative just as Iran escalates attacks on the original chokepoint.

Eleven straight nights of strikes on Iran have not stopped the TSX from climbing toward its 52-week high, and the reason why should concern anyone extrapolating the trend forward.

Trump dismissed near term Iran negotiations Wednesday and warned of strikes on Iran's nuclear facility, sending oil to a six week high. The TSX rose again anyway, the same result Tuesday's ceasefire hope produced, but the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq barely moved.

The index added 408.76 points to close at 35,369.08 Tuesday, its strongest session in weeks, as gold-linked miners outran even the energy names benefiting from still-elevated oil prices.

The TSX's sharpest rebound in weeks came one session after its worst close in eight, and the clients who reacted to Monday's headlines are the ones who missed it.

This morning's five desks read Tuesday as a mediation signal cooling a stable, monthlong standoff. The afternoon's real move came from a pipeline attack on the Caspian coast that none of them saw coming, and it is what actually broke gold's flat trade.

Energy led Monday's TSX sector split as crude touched a five week high, but Tuesday's mediation driven pullback in oil is the first real test of whether that leadership holds.

Yemen's Houthis have declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, threatening the Red Sea export route Riyadh has used to offset the Strait of Hormuz disruption, even as markets show their first real mediation signal in over a week.

Anchoring bias explains why investors still expect a safe haven payoff that has not arrived, and the disposition effect is now the more relevant risk in client gold positions.

June's CPI print gave the Bank of Canada exactly the improvement it said it was waiting for when it held on July 15. Five days later, the sector most exposed to that decision sold off harder than any other on the index, and traders are still pricing a hike by year end, not a cut.