Wall Street's morning optimism was short-lived, with stocks once more at the mercy of oil price volatility. The Dow and S&P 500 fell for the fourth-straight day, while all three major indexes logged their third-straight weekly drop. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is careening toward 22,000, a level not breached on a closing basis since September, while the blue-chip index felt pressure from Apple (AAPL) and Salesforce (CRM) today.
Despite Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying people "don't need to worry" about the Strait of Hormuz closure, the vital pipeline remained shut, putting a chokehold on the global economy and helping front-month Brent futures reclaim $100. Lackluster GDP and inflation data failed to prop up sentiment as well.
Historic Week For Oil Prices
Oil prices are showing no signs of slowing down, as tanker traffic and supply worries persist, despite several attempts this week to keep costs down. April-dated West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 3.1% to close at $98.71 per barrel for the day and up 8.6% for the week.
The U.S. greenback continued work against the dollar, while inflation and Iran worries also plagued the safe-haven asset. April-dated gold futures fell 1.3% to settle at $5,061.70 an ounce on the day, and marked a weekly drop of 2.8%.
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