$100 Oil: A Round Number Problem for a Multi-Sided Market

Round numbers draw a lot of attention in financial markets, but none more so than when oil tops $100 a barrel, a threshold investors have only had to navigate on three sustained occasions over the past three decades. “The round number matters less than what it signals,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial. Brent crude futures for September delivery, the global pricing benchmark, topped the $101 a barrel level in Wednesday trading, marking a staggering 40% surge since the start of July.