Oil remains above $100 despite Trump's decision to unblock imports of Russian crude.

BarcelonaThe US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it will temporarily authorize the purchase of Russian oil in transit. The measure aims to curb the surge in crude oil prices, which jumped more than 9% on Thursday after several days of increases and, despite moderating the pace of the climb, continued to rise on Friday. On Friday, the price of Brent crude—the European benchmark—surfaced at over $100 a barrel. Conversely, the price of natural gas moved in the opposite direction, falling by approximately 0.60% to €50.54 per megawatt-hour (MWh) on the Dutch TTF market, which sets prices across the continent. These declines were relatively small, and gas prices rose for much of the day. With the lifting of restrictions on Russian crude, thousands of barrels will enter the market, which should contribute to a decrease—or at least a moderation of the escalating price—of oil. When it announced the embargo, President Donald Trump's administration asserted that the ban on Russian oil purchases was key to pressuring Moscow in the war in Ukraine. However, it now indicates that this temporary exemption from the restriction, which will last until April 11, will not represent a significant benefit for Russia.

Last week, Washington authorized India to access Russian oil stranded at sea for a period of thirty days, and is now extending the measure globally. This contrasts with the US government's position until now, since last August Trump had increased tariffs on the Asian country Precisely as punishment for having acquired crude oil in Moscow.

Similarly, the US administration had imposed sanctions against Russia's main oil companies and had also pressured China to cut its purchases of Russian crude, which had affected its exports and explains part of the drop in oil prices during 2025. Russia was secretly exporting Russian oil to third countries, and the airstrikes by the Ukrainian armed forces against oil infrastructure (refineries, pipelines, storage facilities) on Russian territory had a negative impact on Moscow's production and export capacity.

The sale of hydrocarbons abroad is the main engine of the Russian economy and the largest source of income for the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. With more revenue from oil exports, Russia will now gain financial breathing room to maintain the invasion of Ukraine, which began more than four years ago.

Stock markets in the red for another day

The Spanish stock market closed Friday down 0.47%, falling below 17,100 points, as it continues to focus on the Iran-Contra conflict. The day was marked by the release of a series of economic data, including the second estimate of US economic growth. The main Spanish index thus closed this second week of the conflict with a slight drop of 0.09% and will begin trading on Monday at 17,059.30 points. Among the Ibex 35 stocks that gained the most during the session were energy companies: Repsol, this year's star performer, rose 3.28% and is now trading at €23. Conversely, steelmaker ArcelorMittal (-4.28%) and airline holding company IAG (-2.22%) were the worst performers.

Across the rest of the continent, stock markets are also following the same trend, a moderate decline: London has lost 0.39%; Frankfurt, 0.65%; Paris, 0.91%; and Milan, 0.29%.

In Asia, Friday's session also closed with widespread losses: the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the most important in the region, fell 1.4%, while Seoul's dropped 1.7%. Hong Kong and Shanghai lost 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

Debt is under pressure and gold is losing value

Debt interest rates continue to rise; the increase in oil prices has put the bund German subsidiaries—the benchmark in Europe—are nearing 3%. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond is close to 4.30%, and the Spanish bond yield is around 3.50%. Precious gold continues to lose value and has fallen below the $5,100 per ounce level.