Oil prices soar and stocks fall over concerns Israeli strikes on Iran could spiral into wider war

Oil prices soared on Friday while stocks fell over concerns that Israel’s attack on Iran could spiral into a wider war and damage the flow of crude around the world. 

Iran is one of the world’s major oil producers and China its largest customer. Despite Western sanctions, a slowdown in Iranian oil could keep the price of crude and gasoline higher for buyers everywhere.    

The price of a barrel of benchmark US crude jumped 6.4% in morning trading to $72.39 – some of the highest prices in many months. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 6.6% to $73.94 a barrel.

Stocks fall

It was a different story for stocks, which fell across the globe. 

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.4% at 10am but recovered some losses as the morning went on. The S&P 500 was down 0.9% and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower.

In Europe, France’s CAC and Germany’s DAX lost just over 1%, while Spain and Italy closed 1.3% down. London’s FTSE 100 Index closed 0.4% below Thursday’s record high.

Some of the biggest losers on both sides of the Atlantic were airlines, after a number of Middle Eastern countries closed their airspace to commercial flights. Turkish Airlines fell 6%, while Air France KLM and British Airways parent company IAG lost more than 4%.  United Airlines was down 4.4% and Delta Airlines down 4%.