Crude Prices Surge on Iran Strait of Hormuz Threat; US Stocks Mixed

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.

A cavalcade of such profit reports has helped the US stock market push to records even though the war with Iran has driven up the price of oil and inflation by slowing the deliveries of crude coming from the Persian Gulf.

Asia-Pacific markets mixed

In other trade dealings on Monday, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed overnight with South Korea’s Kospi climbing 1.31%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.17%. The broader Topix index, however, slipped 0.3%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.21%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.73%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 0.32%.

Tokyo-listed shares in SoftBank Group, meanwhile, surged 5% after the Japanese conglomerate unveiled plans to invest €45 billion over the next five years to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in France.