The latest on the economics of the war.

From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore, in for David Brancaccio.

President Trump asked allies to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Several have declined to get involved.

Meanwhile, the price of oil is still about 50% higher than it was a month ago. Ken Watrette is here to talk about it.

He's a vice president at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Ken, good morning. Good morning.

So the price of a barrel of Brent crude is about 50% higher than it was a month ago.

Gallon of gas is 3.79. That's up 40% from a month ago.

What is your prediction of where this is going to go?

Well, it's highly sensitive to development in the Middle East, obviously.

We have a series of scenarios which we're looking at.

The base case, which informs our current forecasts,

is that we'll see

limited disruption, which lasts a little longer and then starts to ease as we move into April

and energy prices will come down. But the uncertainty surrounding that assumption is obviously

very high and there are scenarios which unfortunately will, will result in a persistently high energy

prices for much longer.

U.S. diesel fuel is now above $5 a gallon for the first time since December of 2022.

Diesel is very important because it goes into trucks and ships and buses and all the things that do the

things in the economy. How significant of an inflation mover is that? Well, it's very important

in a number of respects. Obviously, it has a direct impact on the consumer price inflation rate,

and then there's the indirect effect of higher energy prices. You know, they pass through into the cost of production of other goods.

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