The oil market briefly jumped after the UAE sent an emergency alert to resident cell phones warning of an incoming missile.
The move was amplified by reports of explosions in Iran’s media — reports that later proved untrue.
The alert was withdrawn just two minutes after it was issued, and the incident now appears to have been a technical error. Officials are calling it a “technical malfunction,” though it seems near-impossible that a human was not involved somewhere in the process, or that it may have been some kind of test that went wrong.
Oil prices quickly rose $1 on the news before the market sorted out the situation and reversed the gains.
