00:00It's Benzinga bringing Wall Street to Main Street
00:02Oil markets swung sharply on Tuesday after a social media post from Energy Secretary
00:07Chris Wright briefly suggested the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait
00:12of Hormuz, according to the Wall Street Journal.
00:15The post said the escort insured oil continued flowing to global markets.
00:19The message was deleted within minutes after officials said the military was not currently
00:23escorting commercial ships.
00:25The Department of Energy said the post had been incorrectly captioned by staff.
00:29The brief message triggered a rapid sell-off in energy markets.
00:33U.S. crude futures plunged as much as 19%, and an oil-linked exchange-traded fund lost $84
00:39million in market value during the roughly 10 minutes the post appeared.
00:43Futures later settled down 12% at $83.45 per barrel.
00:48For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.
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