New York, April 7: Oil prices are rising, and US stocks are falling Tuesday as the countdown ticks toward the latest deadline set by President Donald Trump to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges.
The S and P 500 fell 0.7 per cent as Trump threatened that a “whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran does not meet his deadline at 8 p.m. Eastern time to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants that Trump has threatened to bomb.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 210 points, or 0.5 per cent, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1 per cent lower.
The moves were tentative, much like they’ve been since the start of the war with Iran, as uncertainty reigns about whether the fighting could end soon. During just the first hour of Tuesday’s trading, the Dow careened between a gain of 74 points and a loss of 425.
The moves were sharper in the oil market, where prices have spiked because the war has snarled the production and transportation of crude in the Persian Gulf. Much of that oil exits the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to reach customers around the world, but Iran has blocked it to enemies.
The price for a barrel of benchmark US crude climbed 3.9 per cent to USD 116.83. Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.7 per cent to USD 110.55 and is well above its roughly USD 70 level from before the war in late February.
The worry in markets has been that a long-term disruption will keep oil prices high for a long time and send a painful wave of inflation crashing through the global economy. Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war. So far in the war, Trump has made a series of threats to blow up Iranian power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, but he has then delayed it several times. (AP)
