Wall Street suffers biggest slide in more than a year as oil prices surge
Wall Street had its biggest drop in more than a year Monday as another leap for oil prices threatened to squeeze inflation’s grip on the global economy.
The S&P 500 fell 3%, its biggest decline in 16 months, after a barrel of US oil surged to $130 overnight on the possibility the US could bar imports from Russia. Stocks around the world also fell earlier in the day, taking their cue from oil’s movements, though their losses moderated as crude receded toward $120 per barrel.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 122.78 points to 4,201.09. The Dow Jones fell 797.42 points, or 2.4%, to 32,817.38.
The Nasdaq composite slid 482.48 points, or 3.6%, to 12,830.96. The tech-heavy index is now 20.1% below its record set in November. Such a decline means the index is now in what Wall Street calls a bear market. The S&P 500 is down 12.4% from the peak it set in early January.
Oil prices have soared recently on worries that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will upend already tight supplies. Russia is one of the world’s largest energy producers, and oil prices were already high before the attack because the global economy is demanding more fuel following its coronavirus-caused shutdown.
Markets worldwide have swung wildly recently on worries about how high prices for oil, wheat and other commodities produced in the region will go because of Russia’s invasion, inflaming the world’s already high inflation. In the United States, prices for consumers jumped last month from their year-ago level at the fastest rate in four decades.
The conflict in Ukraine also threatens the food supply in some regions, including Europe, Africa and Asia, which rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region, known as the “breadbasket of the world.”
The war puts extra
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