U.S President called for “unconditional surrender” on Friday, marking the start of the second week of the US-Israeli assault on Iran. With Tehran continuing to unleash retaliatory strikes around the Middle East, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious or rapid way to stop the fight. As the US and European stock markets plummeted and oil prices reached their highest points in recent memory on Friday, investors lost hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a loss of 453, or 0.9%, after falling as much as 945 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.3% to its worst week since October, while the Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%. Before closing at $92.69 on Friday, Brent crude briefly surged past $94 to reach its highest level since September 2023. Some estimates claim that the value of all stocks was destroyed by more than $800 billion.
Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 92,000 in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is in stark contrast to the downwardly revised January rise of 126,000. Additionally, it falls well short of the 50,000 growth that Dow Jones’ survey of economists predicted for the month. Also, the jobless rate increased from 4.3% to 4.4%.
A barrel of Brent crude ended Friday at $92.69. As the conflict has spread to areas vital to the Middle East’s oil and gas production and transportation, oil prices have skyrocketed, with Brent rising from about $70 late last week. For the first time since 2023, a barrel of benchmark US oil broke the $90 threshold, rising 12.2% to $90.90.
The outcome of the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, where around a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, will have a significant impact. Some analysts and investors believe that the global economy may not be able to handle a further jump in oil prices, such as $100 per barrel, if they remain there.
Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the 15% worldwide tariffs would take effect “this week.” People around the world are still in a state of anticipation and confusion because there has been no official announcement or update.
