NEW YORK — Oil prices are leaping, and stocks are falling Friday on worries that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.2% and was on track to wipe out its modest gains from earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 843 points, or 2%, as of 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower.
The strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 7.3% to $72.98. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 7% to $74.23 for a barrel.
Iran is one of the world’s major producers of oil, though sanctions by Western countries have limited its sales. If a wider war erupts, it could slow the flow of Iran’s oil to its customers and keep the price of crude and gasoline higher for everyone worldwide.
Beyond the oil coming from Iran, analysts also pointed to the potential for disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a relatively narrow waterway off Iran’s coast. Much of the world’s oil moves through it on ships.
But past attacks involving Iran and Israel have seen prices for oil spike initially, only to fall later “once it became clear that the situation was not escalating and there was no impact on oil supply,” according to Richard Joswick, head of near-term oil at S&P Global Commodity Insights.
That has Wall Street waiting to see what will come next. U.S. stock prices dropped to their lowest points for the day as Iran’s state-run news site said Iran launched ballistic missiles towards Israel.
For now, the price of oil has jumped, but it’s still lower than it was earlier this year. “This is an economic shock that nobody really needs, but it is one that seems more like a shock to sentiment than to the fundamentals of the economy,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
That in turn had U.S. stocks falling to give back some of their big recent gains that had brought them to the brink of their record.
Companies that use a lot of fuel as part of their business and need their customers feeling confident enough to travel fell to some of the sharpest losses. Cruise operator Carnival dropped 5%. United Airlines sank 4.5%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 5%.
They helped overshadow gains for U.S. oil producers and other companies that could benefit from increased fighting between Israel and Iran.
Exxon Mobil rose 2.1%, and ConocoPhillips gained 1.9% because the leaping price of crude portends bigger profits for them.
Contractors that make weapons and defense equipment also rallied. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and RTX all rose at least 3%.
The price of gold climbed as investors searched for safer places to park their cash. An ounce of gold added 1.5%.
Often, prices for Treasury bonds will likewise rise when investors are feeling nervous. That’s because U.S. government bonds have historically been seen as some of the safest options around. But Treasury prices fell Friday, which in turn pushed up their yields, in part because of worries that a spike in oil prices could drive inflation higher.
Inflation has remained relatively tame recently, and it’s near the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, but worries are high that it could be set to accelerate because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
That sent the yield on the 10-year Treasury up to 4.42% from 4.36% late Thursday. Higher yields can tug down on prices for stocks and other investments, while making it more expensive for U.S. companies and households to borrow money.
A report on Friday suggesting an unexpectedly large increase in sentiment among U.S. consumers also helped drive yields higher. The preliminary report from the University of Michigan said sentiment improved for the first time in six months after Trump put many of his tariffs on pause, while U.S. consumers’ expectations for coming inflation eased.
On Wall Street, Adobe fell 5.2% even though the company behind Photoshop reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than Wall Street expected. Analysts called it a solid performance but said investors may have been looking for bigger increases to some of its revenue forecasts for the upcoming year.
Shares of Brazilian meat giant JBS fell 4.4% as they made their debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The company wants to increase access to its shares among global investors, despite criticism from environmental groups, U.S. lawmakers and others who noted JBS’ record of corruption, monopolistic behavior and environmental destruction.
In stock markets abroad, indexes slumped across Europe and Asia. France’s CAC 40 lost 1%, and Germany’s DAX dropped 1.1% for two of the larger losses.
McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany, and Junzhe reported from Hong Kong. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Dee-Ann Durbin contributed.