Stock markets around the world are sharply lower on March 9 as the price of crude oil surges above $100 U.S. a barrel.
The benchmark European Stoxx 600 index is down 2.1% in morning trading, with all of the region’s major bourses in the red as the war in Iran sends crude oil prices skyrocketing.
In Asia, the situation is even worse, with Japan’s Nikkei stock index down 5% and other markets across the region down more than 1%.
In the U.S., all three major bourses are falling to start the trading week, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average looking to open down more than 500 points.
At one point, the Dow was down more than 1,000 points.
The market turmoil comes as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the U.S. standard, rises 12% to trade at $101.57 U.S. per share.
Its first time WTI crude oil has been above the $100 U.S. level since 2022, when investors were reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up 13% on the day and trading at $104.62 U.S. a barrel. Brent began this year trading around $60 U.S. per barrel.
Oil prices are soaring after major Middle East producers slashed their output due to the ongoing war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz waterway that connects to Asia.
Kuwait announced cuts to its crude oil production while Iraq has reportedly seen its production decrease by as much as 70%.
Several Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized countries say that they will now tap their crude oil reserves to make up the Middle East shortfall and meet domestic demand.
The $100 U.S. crude oil level is seen by many analysts as a breaking point for the global economy unless war in the Middle East is resolved quickly.
However, the war shows little signs of easing after Iran over the weekend named Ayatollah Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, as its new supreme leader.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media that a gain in oil prices is a “very small price to pay” for destroying Iran’s nuclear threat.
U.S. markets are coming off their worst weekly decline since Trump’s initial round of tariffs were announced in April 2025.
