Oil’s Black-Swan Price Spike Triggers Equity Risk Alert

RBC Capital Markets researchers say oil is showing black-swan–like price dynamics unseen in other assets, which have moved in normal white-swan patterns. Oil’s price move is a seven-deviation event versus roughly 1–1.5 standard deviations for other assets. If energy-market volatility remains elevated, U.S. stocks could fall 5%–20%, with the risk of about a 20% drop possible; betting markets put roughly a 25% chance that Hormuz traffic normalizes by end-April. The takeaway is oil is driving the risk picture while stocks and other assets remain comparatively calm unless volatility worsens.