Oil jumps, stocks slide ahead of U.S. stock market open as Iran war rounds one month
Global oil prices jumped and U.S. stock futures fell before Monday’s market open after the weekend saw Iran-backed Houthi militants launch ballistic missiles at Israel and 3,500 more U.S. troops arrive in the Middle East as the conflict ended a month ago.
Advanced trading on the three major U.S. stock indexes was down 0.5% as of 10:20 p.m. ET on Sunday. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, jumped 3% to more than $116 a barrel, its highest level since the start of the conflict, while U.S. crude climbed 3% to nearly $103 a barrel.
Investors are beginning to question President Donald Trump’s ability to calm markets without material progress on the ground.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that the United States would “make a deal” with Iran and that negotiations between the two countries were going well.
“I think we’re going to make a deal with them, that’s almost certain, but it’s possible we won’t,” he told reporters. He later said a deal could be reached “soon.”
Trump also told reporters that Iran “gave us the gist” of a 15-point plan the United States sent to Tehran to end the war, which Iran has not yet confirmed publicly, and that 20 oil ships — in addition to 10 the previous week — will pass through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday “as a sign of respect.”
Trump separately told the Financial Times on Sunday that a deal with Iran could be reached “pretty quickly” and that he wanted to “take Iranian oil.”
Average U.S. gasoline prices reached $3.98 per gallon on Sunday, according to AAA, the highest since the summer of 2022. A new report from Bloomberg News says U.S. government officials and Wall Street analysts have begun to consider the possibility that oil prices could climb as high as $200 per barrel as the biggest oil shock in decades continues to reverberate.
Patrick De Haan, chief analyst at Gas Buddy, estimates that later this week, American drivers will have spent an additional $10 billion on gasoline since the conflict began a month ago.
