Stormy petrol: Hamas win portends more energy volatility

Besides posing another obstacle to peace in the Middle East, the startling victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections of the Hamas party — considered by the U.S. and the European Union to be a terrorist organization — may bring further spikes in the price of petroleum, as have previous political shocks in that incendiary region.

The trend started with the Arab oil embargo of 1973, when Arab nations cut off all oil shipments to the United States because of its support of Israel during the Yom Kippur war.

Market Watch