Stock markets worldwide shudder after oil prices spike to $120 a barrel

Stock markets shuddered worldwide Monday on worries about whether the global economy can withstand spiking prices for oil, which briefly got to nearly $120 per barrel, their highest level since four summers ago. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%, coming off its worst week since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 721 points, or 1.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower. That followed even worse losses in European and Asian stock markets.
Since the war with Iran began with attacks by the United States and Israel, the central worry for financial markets has been how high oil prices will go because of it and how long they will stay there. Early Monday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly touched $119.50. It hasn’t been that expensive since the summer after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, another military conflict that likewise raised the risk for blockages in the global flow of oil.
The U.S. stock market careened through a manic Monday, going from a steep early loss to a solid gain as worries turned into hope that the war with Iran may not last that long. The S&P 500 dropped as much as 1.5% in the morning before flipping to a gain of 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average clawed back a plunge of nearly 900 points to rise 239 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.4%. If the strait remains closed for only a few weeks, the price of oil could push to $150 per barrel of higher, according to oil and gas strategists at Macquarie Research.