Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is open. Markets are rallying. From Marketplace, I'm Novosafo. Good morning.

Iran's foreign minister says the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway that's been shut down during the war, is open for all commercial vessels as a ceasefire continues to hold.

Markets are welcoming the news. Oil prices are falling and

stock, stocks rallying. I'm joined by Christopher Lowe. He's chief economist at FHN Financial in New York. Good

morning. Good morning. So Iran says the strait is open during a temporary ceasefire.

Hundreds of vessels have been trapped in the strait, including oil tankers. How much can this

development turn things around for the global economy?

So to put it into perspective, particularly in parts of Asia and Europe, without access to Persian Gulf oil,

for example, airlines have warned if by the end of the week they didn't get crude coming into Europe, there would not be

enough jet fuel to serve the market in the summer. They would have to cancel flights. In Korea and the

Philippines, the government has been telling households to stop using air conditioning, turn off lights.

So there's enough power to run their manufacturing

industries. It's absolutely vital to get oil flowing again out of the region. It's a third of the

oil used by the world. Now we're seeing perhaps some movement, and that's great news. At the same time,

the International Energy Agency says there are some 90 crucial energy facilities that have already been damaged during the fighting in this war, two-thirds of them severely. How much can we take a, you know, breath here of relief, or how much is this kind of rally we're seeing already too soon?

Over the course of the next few days, we'll see if the number of ships actually does rise

passing through the Gulf. Remember, when the U.S. put the blockade in place, they said shipping not associated with Iran

was welcome to pass through the Gulf. Very few boats did. So, you know, we'll see if this

actually is the iceberg, or it's hopefully going to be. And then beyond that, it could be a month

or more before we even have a timeline

for restoring the production and port facilities in the region.

All right. Chris Lowe, chief economist at FHN Financial. Thank you very much.

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