Stocks tumbled at the open Thursday as oil prices resumed their uptrend after Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said the Strait of Hormuz, which sees roughly a fifth of global oil pass through it on a daily basis, will remain closed in order "to pressure" the United States.
Even after the International Energy Agency agreed on Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil from its emergency reserves, with the U.S. committing 172 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of the efforts, front-month crude futures jumped 9.7% today to settle at $95.73 per barrel.
