The U.S. stock market closed with a 3 percent spike in oil prices even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell the most in a month following the American attack on an Iranian military leader.
Markets closed with oil trading as just over $63 a barrel after earlier in the day U.S. crude rose as high as $64 a barrel, the highest price since April, according to CNBC.
News late Thursday that President TrumpDonald John Trump Trump asks New York judge to dismiss rape allegation case NYT to fight White House’s withholdment of emails about Ukraine aid freeze Gabbard blasts Iran strike: ‘Trump’s actions are an act of war’ MORE ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani has been reverberating through the markets.
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The Dow closed down more than 200 points, the largest one-day drop since early December.
Part of the concern for oil markets is a vow from Iran to retaliate, which could include attacks on oil infrastructure elsewhere in the region — a tactic Tehran has been accused of employing in the past.
The escalating tensions and resulting market instability may not be immediately felt at the pump, as the U.S. gets oil from a wide network of foreign and domestic markets.
“Recent geopolitical events have had relatively small effects on energy prices,” said Dean Foreman, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute, the fossil fuel lobby in the U.S.