Rising oil prices are knocking the U.S. stock market further from its record high on Monday, while building pressure even higher within the U.S. bond market.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and gave back most of its gains from last week, which had brought it to the brink of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 372 points, or 0.7%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% lower.
Most of the U.S. stock market sank under the weight of a 2.8% rise for the most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude oil to $100.19 per barrel. That overshadowed a gain for Wall Street’s most influential stock, Nvidia, after it announced a historic funneling of cash to its investors through a buyback of its shares.
Oil prices have been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow tankers to flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz and deliver oil from the Middle East to customers worldwide. The latest turns came after President Donald Trump said over the weekend he’s rejecting an offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program.
“I’d like to make a deal, too,” Mr. Trump said Saturday. “But that deal would not be acceptable.”
Brent climbed above $101 per barrel Monday morning, before the U.S. stock market opened for trading, but it pared its gains as U.S. officials said mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the strait.
For all its ups and downs, a barrel of Brent remains much higher than the roughly $72 it cost before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February. That has helped worsen inflation, and the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is up to nearly $4.48 from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA.
