As the shells rained down on Israel and Lebanon this week, oil prices did a curious thing. They fell.

After prices initially spiked to a record high when the Israel/Lebanon conflict broke out, investors quickly decided their biggest concern – that crude producers Syria and Iran would become embroiled – was unlikely to happen. Towards the end of the week the price, at about $74 a barrel, was down $4 from its peak and only slightly above its level on July 10, the day before hostilities began.