According to Jin10, signs that the Middle East conflict could escalate further pushed oil prices higher and raised risks to the region's energy supply recovery. A U.S. official said the U.S. Department of Defense may send an aircraft carrier and 10,000 sailors and Marines to the Persian Gulf, which would restore the number of carrier strike groups targeting Iran to the level seen at the start of the war in late February. Vantage Global Markets senior market analyst Hebe Chen said gold's start on Friday looked like "calm on the surface, with undercurrents beneath." She said cooling U.S. inflation, weaker expectations for another rate hike in October, and lower oil prices gave gold some breathing room, but persistently high U.S. Treasury yields and a strong dollar still weighed heavily, keeping prices near $4,100.