Falling oil prices send Wall Street toward its best day since the start of the Iran war
BNN Bloomberg
Oil prices are down, and stocks are up Monday, though such moves have been quick to reverse since the war in Iran began.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.2 per cent and was on track for its best day in five weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 513 points, or 1.1 per cent, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3 per cent higher.
The driver for markets once again was the price of oil. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 5.3 per cent to $93.57, easing some pressure off the economy after topping US$102 earlier in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, fell two per cent to $101.09 per barrel after earlier getting as high as $106.50.
It’s a reprieve, for now at least, after oil prices spiked from roughly $70 before the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran. In response, Iran has effectively halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That has oil producers cutting production because their crude has nowhere to go.
The worry in financial markets is that if the strait remains closed for a long time, it could keep enough oil off the market to drive inflation up to a debilitating level for the global economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend demanded that other countries hurt by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz “take care of that passage” and said his country “will help - A LOT!”
The U.S. is temporarily easing some sanctions on Russian oil shipments, reflecting global concerns over sharply higher crude prices due to supply shortages stemming from the Iran war.
The Trump administration this week stepped up its ambitious effort to replace about US$1.6 trillion in lost tariff revenue that was eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a range of the president’s import taxes.
The Bank of Canada will be balancing a last-minute flood of economic data with uncertainty around trade and war in the Middle East as it prepares to make its second interest rate decision of 2026 this week.
The Trump administration has expanded its trade investigations to 60 countries, including Canada, in an effort to shore up the president’s tariff policies.
Canada has committed to supplying 23.6 million barrels of oil as part of a larger International Energy Agency plan to help stabilize energy markets as the war in the Middle East continues.
Canada’s energy-heavy index may cushion stocks from oil shocks, but rising crude prices could boost inflation and pressure consumers.
Venture Global will proceed with phase 2 of its CP2 liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, the company said on Friday.
The U.S. is temporarily easing some sanctions on Russian oil shipments, reflecting global concerns over sharply higher crude prices due to supply shortages stemming from the Iran war.
Telus Corp.’s global IT and customer services arm says it’s investigating a breach of its systems.
When Jensen Huang strides onto the stage of a packed hockey arena to kick off Nvidia’s annual developer conference on Monday, he is likely to reveal products and partnerships geared toward keeping the AI chipmaker atop a growing array of competitors.
The current Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) crackdown on Canada’s growing army of gig workers has gone beyond Uber drivers, contractors, consultants, handy-people and freelancers.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said late on Thursday it had begun Section 301 unfair trade practices probes of 60 economies in relation to what it called failures to take action on forced labor.
Global equity funds recorded the largest weekly outflows since mid-December in the seven days to March 11 as disruptions to oil supplies stemming from the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran stoked concerns about inflation and global economic growth.