US crude tops US$110, Wall Street falls after Trump vows more Iran attacks

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell in New York on Thursday.

Wall Street stocks tumbled early Thursday on the latest jump in oil prices as tough rhetoric between the United States and Iran reduced hopes of a Middle East war resolution.

Photo: AFP Stocks slumped and oil prices soared on Thursday after President Donald Trump vowed the US will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1 per cent, with three out of every four stocks in the benchmark index losing ground.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 545 points, or 1.2 per cent, as of 9.52am Eastern.

The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6 per cent.

Major indexes throughout Europe and Asia also fell.

The broad slide for US and global stocks follows a national address from Trump on Wednesday where he said the US will continue to hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks”.

Markets had been mostly gaining ground throughout the week on hopes that the war would conclude soon.

Major indexes are still on track to close out the week with gains.

Thursday is the last day of trading on Wall Street this week with the stock market closed on Good Friday.

Crude oil prices have been the main force behind the sharp swings for stocks globally.

Shipping traffic has been severely curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through during peacetime.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8 per cent to US$109.10 per barrel.

Benchmark US crude surged 11.7 per cent to US$111.92 a barrel.

Prices had been sliding back towards US$100 per barrel before Trump’s address on Wednesday.

Markets have been broadly sliding since the war began, with indexes often rising and falling sharply along with statements from Trump about the direction of the war.

Just on Monday, the S&P 500 briefly neared a 10 per cent drop from its record, a steep-enough fall that professional investors have a name for it: a “correction”.

It gained ground on Tuesday and Wednesday on hope that the war could end soon.

Airlines and other travel-related companies were among the biggest losers on Thursday.

United Airlines fell 6.1 per cent and Carnival shed 5 per cent.

Energy companies gained ground, with ExxonMobil rising 2.3 per cent and Chevron gaining 3.4 per cent.

Treasury yields remained relatively steady in the bond market.

The yield on the 10-year T

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