Gold and energy positions opened near the war's peak are now underwater as the Strait of Hormuz reopens, and the instinct to hold rather than sell has a name and a cost.

May's PCE hit its hottest annual pace since the Iran war began, and gold rallied on the news. The reason has nothing to do with the AI trade this morning's Market Desk leaned on, and everything to do with what the print did not do: come in hotter than feared.

Energy and gold names dragged the TSX down 0.5% Tuesday. A blowout Micron earnings report overnight has flipped the script for Canadian tech names heading into Thursday's session.

Oil has priced in a peaceful reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The deal that produced it expires in eight weeks, and the mechanism that follows is built on a sanctioned entity.

Oil's slide to its lowest level since before the Hormuz disruption began is calming the same bond market that makes the CRA's prescribed rate loan attractive. CAD is not getting any of the relief.

The composite slipped 0.21 percent Tuesday after Monday's gain, but the headline number hides a split: financials firmer on a regulatory tailwind, energy and gold names softer as their commodity supports both retreat.

Iran's free passage commitment through the Strait of Hormuz expires in late August unless a final deal replaces it. Oil prices have already priced the resolution as done.

Gold has fallen more than 10 percent from its June peak and WTI has slid to levels last seen before the conflict began. The anchoring bias explains why many investors still cannot see it.

WTI has fallen 33 percent in five weeks on the Hormuz unwind, but a currency that will not rally is taking back part of the relief before it reaches the pump.

The S&P/TSX Composite closed at a fresh high on bank and gold-miner strength even as crude oil fell more than 3%, a sector rotation that tells Canadian portfolios more than the day's net index move does.

A 60-day US license for Iranian oil sales and a Geneva peace framework have pushed crude to a three-month low, and the Canadian energy re-rating built on a closed shipping lane is the first thing testing that move.

Monday's selloffs in oil and gold read as one Iran story. They are two separate mechanisms landing on the same trading day, and only one of them touches the number that actually matters for advisors this autumn.

WTI's slide toward the mid 70s and a stronger US dollar are hitting Canadian sectors very differently this week. The mechanism behind the divergence, and what it means heading into Monday's open.

Crude has moved more than 3 percent in a single session eleven times this month. The research on why the most recent headline always feels like the most important one.

Wednesday’s signing in Versailles was priced as resolution. Friday’s cancelled follow-up, and where oil bounced when it happened, says the reopening is a negotiation, not a finish line.

Canadian General Investments' Greg Eckel called it a two sector hit. Toromont Industries posted the day's biggest single name move, up 15.1%, for reasons that had nothing to do with either story.