Oil prices jump after U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities

Oil prices jumped and stock futures slipped Sunday evening, indicating concern among investors about the possibility of economic fallout from the ongoing unrest in the Middle East following U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities

Oil prices jumped and stock futures slipped Sunday evening, indicating concern among investors about the possibility of economic fallout from the ongoing unrest in the Middle East following U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The major focus is on oil. Iran remains a major international oil supplier, and it also sits on the Strait of Hormuz, a heavily trafficked waterway in the Persian Gulf that is a key transit channel for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Concerns centered on whether Iran would begin limiting or shutting down access to the strait. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that closing the strait would be tantamount to “economic suicide” for Iran and called on China, Iran’s top trading partner, to head off any attempt by Iran to affect traffic.

U.S. and global oil benchmark prices opened up 4% Sunday evening, underscoring the concerns about what the conflict means for the world’s oil supplies. Those gains had eased slightly by 9 p.m. Sunday. Oil prices already gained about 3% last week in the wake of Israel’s initial strikes against Iranian targets and Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks.

Stocks also slid Sunday. S&P 500 futures contracts opened about 0.6% in the first hour of trading, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell about 250 points, or 0.6%. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.7%. Like oil, they had pared those opening losses somewhat by 9 p.m. U.S. markets officially open at 9:30 a.m. ET Monday.