McCain warns of economic crisis as forces evacuate Damascus

“It’s a bigger risk for Europe than it is for the U.S.,” said Mark Luschini, CIO at Janney Montgomery Scott. “As Brent [crude] continues to move higher, that’s the big issue—that Europe rolls back over again after we’ve seen a big rally in those markets in the last six-eight months. That could be a risk here.”

Addison Armstrong, director of research at Tradition Energy, told CNBC that a military strike in Syria could create a widening disparity between the European oil benchmark—Brent Crude—and the U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude. “I think you would see the spread between Brent and WTI move back out to the highs that we saw earlier this year, out above $20 per barrel,” he said.

“If we were to have a sustained rally in WTI prices, which I think is very, very likely if there is a military attack in Syria, [then] we’ll see the highest prices since 2008,” Armstrong added. “Gasoline prices would certainly go to $4 per barrel and that’s the point where we’ve seen [consumer] demand destruction in the past.”

 Reuters contributed to this article.

Article Appeared @http://www.cnbc.com/id/100993491

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