Oil prices dive, stocks jump as markets seek reprieve from Middle East turmoil

U.S. oil prices retreated from weekly highs as markets assessed the potential for a reprieve in Middle East turmoil following a week of escalating tensions
U.S. oil prices retreated from weekly highs as markets assessed the potential for a reprieve in Middle East turmoil following a week of escalating tensions.
The U.S. crude oil price benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell 8% to less than $68 a barrel, the lowest level since last week. The global Brent crude price benchmark likewise fell about 8%. Major stock indexes ended the day in positive territory.
Just after 1 p.m. ET Monday, Iran said it had launched missiles toward a U.S. base in Qatar. Reports suggested the missiles had been intercepted.
Markets viewed the strikes “as more of a symbolic retaliatory attack rather than one to result in significant damage to USA assets in the region,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates energy consultancy and an oil markets expert, said in an email to NBC News.
As a result, he said, oil markets have begun selling off, since it appears shutting down marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply travels, will not figure into Iran’s retaliatory measures.
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