Crude prices climbed in afternoon trade on Monday as Iran suspended talks with the US and pledged to fully close the Strait of Hormuz, fuelling investor fears that the broader Middle East conflict could escalate rather than move towards a peace deal.
At the time of writing, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 7.69% at $94.08 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 6.43% to $97.07 per barrel.
Wall Street pushes into record books
In the US, the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged from its all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 130 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite was flat. Both are also coming off records.
Science Applications International Corp. jumped 12.3% after becoming the latest US company to report bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. SAIC also raised its forecasts for upcoming financial results after winning several contracts from the US Department of Homeland Security, army and other agencies.
