NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are climbing again and are back to where they were before the summer as the war with Iran keeps clogging the global flow of crude. That’s worsening worries about inflation and cranking up pressure within the bond market, helping to send stocks lower again on Wall Street on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and is on track for a fourth straight loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 300 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed another 4.1% and got back above $105 per barrel for the first time since May.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of U.S. crude oil rose above $100 for the first time Thursday since May with no end in sight in the U.S.-Iran war. The price for Brent crude, the international standard, rose above $105 a barrel.
U.S. stock futures fell. Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 0.5%, Dow futures slipped 0.2% and futures for the Nasdaq composite fell 1.3%.
A report showed that inflation in the U.S. picked up at the wholesale level in August after cooling earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by one-quarter point to try to tame inflation in the European Union. Stock indexes in Europe fell, with Germany’s DAX down 0.6% and France’s CAC-40 down 1.3%.
Markets in Asia closed lower with the exception of Japan.
The price of U.S. crude rose 4.3% to $100.17. Brent crude gained 4% to $105.26. A series of attacks between the U.S. and Iran have stifled the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and President Donald Trump said Wednesday that oil prices likely won’t fall until after U.S. midterm elections.
The jump in oil prices over the course of the war has pushed prices for many goods higher. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are up about 32% from a year ago to $4.22 per gallon. Higher fuel costs cut into household budgets directly and also indirectly raise prices for goods because of higher shipping costs.
The price of diesel, which can have an outsized impact on consumers because it is used in shipping and production, hit an all-time high Friday and has continued to climb since. The average price for a gallon reached $5.94 overnight and is now 9 cents higher than it was Friday.
Inflation was already stubbornly high when the U.S. started its war against Iran because of the U.S. trade war with much of the world.
Macy’s shares slipped during premarketing trading even as the department store chain raised its sales and profit guidance after delivering sales growth across all its brands during its fiscal second quarter. Shares dipped 4%.
Bond yields rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury rising to 4.91%.