Oil prices did decline sharply in mid-April as the Iran war showed signs of potential de-escalation, with Bloomberg reporting Iran signaling the Strait of Hormuz could reopen soon. Market moves typically ripple across equities and bonds in the direction El-Erian describes, though the post attributes the reaction to a single headline rather than acknowledging the broader conflict backdrop. The broader context — that the Strait of Hormuz closure has created one of crude oil's worst-ever disruptions over six weeks, with hundreds of ships bottled up — explains why reopening signals move markets this sharply.