US stock markets are declining ahead of tonight’s interest rate decision. Oil prices are surging following reports of attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran.
This article is being updated throughout the trading day…
Here’s how the leading indexes are performing around 3:30 PM:
- S&P 500 is down 0.52 percent
- The technology index Nasdaq is down 0.55 percent
- The Dow Jones is down 0.85 percent
Oil prices have risen to $109 per barrel following reports of an attack on Iran’s key South Pars gas field and threats from Iran that it will also attack energy infrastructure. Brent crude is currently trading at $108.35 per barrel, up 4.75 percent since midnight.
The oil price was at $100 a barrel earlier today.
“Any attack on infrastructure is a ‘worst case’ scenario,” said commodity analyst Ole Hvalbye at SEB to E24.
“Once you start taking out energy infrastructure, you can no longer restart the facility within weeks or months. That’s a completely different timeline than what we’ve seen so far,” Hvalbye said.
On Wednesday, fresh macroeconomic data was released from the US. The US Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in February, while a three percent increase was expected, according to Bloomberg.
