Iran’s war tactic of punishing U.S. Gulf allies sends oil prices back up and stock markets down

Oil prices rose back above $100 and stocks sank Thursday as Iran’s attempts to hit supplies in the Middle East and bring down the global economy overshadowed a record release of strategic crude reserves by the International Energy Agency.

Stock markets in Asia closed down Thursday and European markets opened with losses as investors saw few signs the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran would end soon, despite President Trump’s repeated assurances that it would. 

U.S. Energy Secretary Christopher Wright announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would release 172 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while the International Energy Agency — which has 32 member nations, including the U.S. — announced it would release 400 million barrels from its own reserves.

U.S. benchmark Brent crude, the international standard, was trading 5.3% higher at about $97 per barrel Thursday after hitting $100.50 on Wednesday.

In stocks, the future for the S&P 500 lost 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%. Germany’s DAX lost 0.4% to 23,533.60 on Thursday, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.7% to 7,982.64. Britain’s FTSE 100 sank 0.7% to 10,285.91.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed down 1% at 54,452.96, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5% to close at 5,583.25, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.7% to close at 25,716.76. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.1% to 4,129.10 while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.3% to close at 8,629.00.

CBS/AFP