{"id":4573,"date":"2026-03-30T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4573"},"modified":"2026-03-30T19:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:40:00","slug":"oil-prices-keep-climbing-as-iran-war-uncertainty-drags-stock-markets-down-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=4573","title":{"rendered":"Oil prices keep climbing as Iran war uncertainty drags stock markets down – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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U.S. stocks are swinging again Monday as oil prices keep climbing because of uncertainty about when the war with Iran could end.<\/p>\n

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The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and deepened its losses following\u00a0its worst week\u00a0since the war with Iran began. The\u00a0Dow\u00a0Jones Industrial Average was up 130 points, or 0.3%, as of 2:35 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.<\/p>\n

Caution was prevalent throughout financial markets. After jumping to an initial gain of 0.9%, the S&P 500 quickly erased nearly all of it before seesawing lower. Stock indexes rose in Europe but fell sharply in some Asian markets, while the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 3.3% to settle at $102.88.<\/p>\n

In Canada, the S&P\/TSX composite index was up more than 300 points in late-morning trading but had erased much of those gains through the afternoon, and was up just 0.03% by 2:45 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

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The mixed movements followed a whirlwind of action in the war over the weekend, including an entry into the fighting by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The main issue for investors is whether oil and natural gas can resume their full flow from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide and prevent a brutal blast of inflation.<\/p>\n

Shortly before the U.S. stock market opened for trading Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media network that \u201cgreat progress has been made\u201d with \u201cA NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also threatened the possibility of \u201cblowing up and completely obliterating\u201d Iranian power plants if a deal is not reached shortly and if the Strait of Hormuz, an integral waterway for the flow of oil, is not opened immediately.<\/p>\n

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The statement fit and condensed last week\u2019s pattern, where Trump would tout progress being made in talks and offer some optimism for the market, only for doubts to rise quickly afterward about whether the war can end soon.<\/p>\n

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All the back and forth has some investors saying they\u2019re giving Trump\u2019s pronouncements less weight than before. But stock prices are nevertheless cheaper than they were before the war, which has some investors waiting for an opportune time to buy.<\/p>\n

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The S&P 500 finished last week 8.7% below its all-time high, which was set in January. The Dow and Nasdaq both were more than 10% below their records, a steep-enough fall that professional investors call it a \u201ccorrection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking into account how much profits are expected to grow in the coming year for companies in the S&P 500, the index looks 17% cheaper than before the war, by one measure. That\u2019s in a similar range as where prior growth scares for the market ended, as long as they didn\u2019t result in a recession or the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the signs that the strategists led by Michael Wilson point to as \u201cgrowing evidence the S&P 500 correction is getting closer to its ending stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

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