


NEW YORK >> U.S. stocks slumped uesday under the weight of another jump for the price of oil. It was a return to form for financial markets after Wall Street’s worries about Israel’s fighting with Iran had seemed to calm a bit Monday. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% following signals that the Israel-Iran conflict may be worsening and that one of the U.S. economy’s main engines is weakening. The swing sent Wall Street’s main measure of health nearly back to where it started the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 299 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%.
Stocks sank under increasing pressure from crude oil prices, which climbed in their latest see-saw move. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 4.3% to $74.84. Brent crude, the international standard, added 4.4% to $76.45 per barrel.
Their gains accelerated after President Donald Trump raised the temperature on Israel’s fight with Iran by calling for “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” on his social media platform and saying, “We are not going to” kill Iran’s leader, “at least for now.”
Before that, Trump had left a Group of Seven summit early and warned that people in Iran’s capital should evacuate immediately.