March S&P 500 E-Mini futures (ESH26) are down -0.18%, and March Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQH26) are down -0.27% this morning as oil prices continued to rise amid escalating fighting in the Middle East.
The price of Brent crude climbed over +5% as strikes between Iran and Israel on critical energy facilities in the region heightened concerns about a more prolonged impact from the conflict. Iran launched missile strikes on a Qatari site housing the world’s largest LNG export facility, one of several energy assets Tehran had pledged to target following an Israeli attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field. State-owned QatarEnergy said on Thursday that Iranian missile strikes inflicted significant damage on the Ras Laffan complex. President Trump said late Wednesday that the U.S. was not involved in the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field and added that Israel would hold off on further strikes on the site. However, he added that any further attacks by Iran on Qatar’s LNG facilities would lead the U.S. to “massively blow up the entirety” of the South Pars field. Meanwhile, the price of WTI crude rose over +1%, as the gap between U.S. crude and global benchmarks widened. The rise in oil prices pushed the 10-year T-note yield up by 3 basis points to 4.29% as worries intensified that the conflict would stoke inflation and weigh on growth.
