Wall Street points toward gains as oil prices soar amid fears about escalation in Iran
Wall Street was poised to open the week with gains on Monday as oil prices continued their climb and prospects for an end to the Iran war remained uncertain.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all climbed 0.6% before the opening bell. Wall Street closed on Friday with its fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.
Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $1.20 to $100.84 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 2.1% to $107.54 a barrel. Before the war, Brent had been priced at about $70 a barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached soon.
In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations but bristled that if a deal is not reached and if the strategic Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”
About one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the Hormuz Strait.
On the ground, the war showed no sign of letting up: Tehran struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran.
There was little corporate news to trade on early Monday, though shares of Sysco tumbled 5.7% after the nation’s largest food distributor said it would acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.
The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and customers that rely on Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”
Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares.
Markets in Asia closed broadly lower Monday as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in war with Iran, but shares rose moderately in Europe.
France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% at midday, while Germany's DAX added 0.3%. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.9%.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 2.8% to finish at 51,885.85. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 8,461.00. South Korea's Kospi dove 3.0% to 5,277.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 24,750.79, while the Shanghai Composite reversed course in the afternoon and was up 0.2% at 3,923.29.
In Japan and the rest of Asia worries continue to grow about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments.
Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia's economic growth.
“Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research.
Alarm has been resounding in Japan about the declining value of the yen. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.51 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost $1.1482, down from $1.1510.
“In addition to the crude oil futures market, speculative activity is also said to be increasing in the foreign exchange market," Vice Finance Minister Atsushi Mimura said.
“As we have already stated, we will respond on all fronts, and our focus is spread in all directions,” he told reporters, without giving specifics on the possible action.
___
AP journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
