The stock market remained gloomy as oil prices continued to advance higher following tighter restrictions by the United States (US) on Russia's oil and energy imports.
US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday as well as the British government plans to halt imports of Russian oil and products by the end of 2022.
As a result, benchmark Brent crude jumped 3.9% at $ 131.27 a barrel before falling slightly to $ 127.98 a barrel during the end of the trading session, while US crude futures jumped 3.60% at $ 123.70.
For the record, Russia exports about 7 to 8 million barrels of crude oil a day for the world market and sanctions on Moscow could cause the price of the commodity to jump to $ 300 a barrel.
According to Morning Consult’s head of geopolitical risk analysis, Jason McMann, sanctions measures by the US and Europe against Russia would have a major impact on world energy supplies if they really materialized.
Continuing from that, the stock market, which is still worried about rising inflation, is getting worse.
The MSCI world equity index that tracks stocks of 50 other countries fell 0.59%.
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 83.05 points or 0.25% at 32,734.33, the S&P 500 lost 16.03 points or 0.38% at 4,185.06 and the Nasdaq Composite added 8.70 points or 0.07% at 12,839.66 while the STOXX 600 was down 0.51%.
According to Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer in the US for UBS's wealth management arm, the surge in oil prices has caused continued market uncertainty for the time being.
The benchmark German government bond yields rose sharply and the benchmark of long -term Eurozone market inflation expectations soared to its highest level since 2013.
The U.S. 10 -year treasury yield was at 1.8594%.
The euro rose 0.47% at $ 1.0903 while the dollar index fell 0.112%.
Gold continued its profit rally as a safe-haven asset with the spot price of gold up 2.6% at $ 2,049.31 an ounce.
