AhlulBayt News Agency: US stocks tumbled and energy prices soared Tuesday as fears spread through global markets that the Iran war may bring prolonged disruption.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed down around 1%, while the Dow wrapped up the trading session by falling more than 400 points, according to NBC News.Earlier in the day, stocks faced steeper losses. At the lows earlier in the session, the S&P 500 declined as much as 2.5% and the Dow plunged 1,277 points. The Nasdaq was down as much as 2.7%.Meanwhile, energy prices continued to soar after posting a large jump Monday.
Earlier in the day, US crude oil traded higher by 8%, bringing its total increase since Sunday night to more than 13% and pushing prices to their highest since January 2025. The international crude oil benchmark also jumped sharply to its highest level since July 2024.However, later in the day US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had ordered the US Development Finance Corp. to provide "political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the [Persian] Gulf." "If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump added in the social media post.
Oil nearly erased its gain for the day on that announcement, but then resumed climbing again.As of 4 p.m. ET, US crude oil was still up about 4%.
The reaction came as Trump indicated the US-Israeli military operation may last weeks. Iran’s retaliatory attacks across West Asia have hit American assets, and brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global fuel supplies, to a near standstill.The conflict has also caused huge travel disruptions, with tens of thousands of people and air cargo stranded in popular destinations.
The soaring price of crude oil has also pushed retail gasoline prices higher. As of Tuesday afternoon, the average price of a gallon of gas had jumped 19 cents since last week to $3.138 — the biggest one-day price jump since Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022.By the end of the week, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan predicted prices could hit $3.20 per gallon.Natural gas prices also continued their rise, jumping more than 3% Tuesday morning. Natural gas futures traded in Europe rose 20%, after QatarEnergy said it would halt liquified natural gas production Monday and on Tuesday suspended the production of a number of other energy products. Markets also reacted negatively around the world.
In Spain, the IBEX stock index dropped sharply, ending the day down 4.5%. Italy's FTSE MIB closed down 3.9%, Germany's DAX stock index tumbled 3.6%, while stocks traded on the flagship indexes in France and the United Kingdom declined around 3%.
The Stoxx 600, Europe's answer to the S&P 500, slid nearly 3.2%. In Asia, Korea's Kospi average plummeted 7% and Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 3%. Stocks in China, Hong Kong and India also fell more than 1%.
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