Oil Holds Above $100 as Markets Brace for Extended Middle East Conflict

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

Oil prices held above $100 a barrel and stocks tumbled across the globe as investors braced for extended economic pain caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. stocks looked set to extend Thursday's sharp losses as efforts to relieve pressure on global oil supply via easing sanctions on Russian crude fell flat with markets. Investors are positioning for an extended inflation shock caused by the conflict, with long-dated U.S. Treasury yields rising and the dollar strengthening.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due to hold a press conference early eastern time. Meanwhile, investors will weigh U.S. personal-consumption expenditures data--the Federal Reserve's favored inflation print--for further insight into the country's economic health.

--Brent rose 1.8% to $102.37 a barrel, while WTI was up 1.1% to $91.50 in early European trade. The benchmarks are on track for weekly gains of around 9% and 11%, respectively. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for an international coalition to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz "as soon as it is militarily possible," though Iran's new leader vowed to keep blocking the waterway.

--U.S. stock futures pointed down. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both slid 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.4%. Adobe shares tumbled 8.9% in after-hours trading after the company said its chief executive Shantanu Narayen would depart the software group.

"While we admire CEO Narayen as a living legend in software industry, we agree it is time for a change given massive industry shift due to AI," Jefferies's Brent Thill said.

--Asia shares ended mostly lower as risk-off sentiment persisted. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2%, as shares in Honda Motor dropped 5.6% after the company said it expects about $15.7 billion in expenses and losses tied to a reassessment of its electric-vehicle strategy. South Korea's Kospi declined 1.7%, weighed down by energy and semiconductor stocks as artificial-intelligence memory maker SK Hynix slipped 2.15%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component Index and Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively, while the ChiNext Index slipped 0.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 1% lower, weighed by sharp falls for mining groups.

--European blue-chip indexes slid at the opening bell. Miners declined on a fall in precious-metal prices, dragging the U.K.'s FTSE 100 down 0.75%. Germany's DAX fell 1.1% as Siemens Energy lost 3.1%. The French CAC 40 was down 1% as banks and luxury stocks that dominate the index moved lower. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal--listed in Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam--fell 3.4%. The Spanish IBEX 35 was down 1.3% as banks extend losses, with Santander down 2%. The Dutch AEX fell 0.25%, though BE Semiconductor leapt over 10% on a report the semiconductor company is fielding takeover interest. The Italian FTSE MIB slipped 1.1%.

--The dollar rose to a three-and-a-half-month high against a basket of currencies as investors sought safe havens. The dollar is likely to strengthen in the near term on relatively strong U.S. growth and the Federal Reserve's ability to delay interest-rate cuts, Commerzbank's Volkmar Baur said. The DXY dollar index rose to a high of 100.089. The euro fell to a seven-month low of $1.1465, LSEG data show.

Sterling fell after data showed the U.K. economy unexpectedly registered flat growth in January compared to the previous month.

--Short- and medium-term U.S. Treasury yields declined in Asian trade, while ultralong Treasury yields are marginally higher, as investors sought clarity. "The short story remains unchanged: energy prices and rates volatility are staying elevated, and this is not an environment conducive to taking large positions or fading dislocations," Societe Generale's rates strategists said in a note. The 10-year Treasury yield inched lower by 0.6 basis points to 4.266%, while the 30-year Treasury yields were up 1.1 basis points at 4.894%.

Eurozone government bond yields rose, with the 10-year German Bund yield once again rising to its highest in two and half years and edging close to 3%.

--Bitcoin rose back above $70,000 despite markets' broader risk-off sentiment. "One asset class that has shown little risk-off sentiment is crypto," Navellier and Associates' Louis Navellier said in a note. Bitcoin rises more than 2% to a high of $71,993, LSEG data show. Ether rises 1.7% to $2098.03

--Gold is on track for a weekly loss, with futures in New York below $5,100 a troy ounce. Bullion is pressured by a stronger dollar, rising oil prices and uncertainty surrounding Federal Reserve policy. In early trading, gold futures slipped 0.6% to $5,095.30 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index was up 0.3% to 100.06, making dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for overseas buyers.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-13-26 0537ET