SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Oil prices tumble as markets shrug off Iranian rebuttal to US
New York, June 23 (AFP) Jun 23, 2025
Crude oil prices slid more than seven percent Monday while Wall Street stocks advanced after markets shrugged off Iran's rebuttal to the US weekend attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran announced it had launched missiles at a major US base in Qatar, with explosions ringing out in Doha and projectiles seen streaking overhead.

But Qatar described the situation as stable, while energy analysts said oilfield assets were not affected.

"This is a face-saving measure by the Iranians and hopefully the diplomatic off-ramp will be taken," said John Kilduff of Again Capital, who described the Iranian action as "somewhat measured" and apart from population centers.

The Iran-Israel clash has focused worry on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for seaborne oil that has long been used by Iran as a geopolitical bargaining chip.

But Kilduff said, "it's pretty clear that this is not going to turn into -- right away at least -- any kind of impact on oil flows in the region, particularly the Strait of Hormuz."

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate slid 7.2 percent to $68.51 a barrel, below its level ahead of the current Iran-Israel clash.

Iran's response "signified that Iran isn't going to have the fire power to escalate this in an adverse way," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"The response is relatively weak," he said.

While US stocks tripped into negative territory around the time of the Qatar attack, major indices quickly recovered.

The S&P 500 finished up by one percent.

Earlier, sentiment on the Paris and Frankfurt stock markets was hit by a closely watched survey that showed eurozone business activity was almost stagnant again in June.

London's stock exchange was lower with shares in airlines, including EasyJet and British Airways-owner IAG, suffering losses on fears of rising energy costs and disruptions in travel to the Middle East.

In Asia, Tokyo was lower while Hong Kong and Shanghai gained.

The dollar gave up gains against the euro and pound after Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman official said she would support cutting interest rates at next month's meeting if inflation holds steady.

The market currently expects the Fed to resume cutting interest rates in September.

Bowman's comments come on the heels of similar remarks from Fed governor Christopher Waller. They are likely to spur questions this week when Fed Chair Jerome Powell sits for two days of congressional testimony.


- Key figures at around 2040 GMT -


Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 7.2 percent at $72.07 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.2 percent at $68.51 per barrel

New York - Dow: UP 0.9 percent at 42,581.78 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 1.0 percent at 6,025.17 (close)

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 19,630.97 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,758.04 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,537.57 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,269.01 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 38,354.09 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 23,689.13 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,381.58 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1581 from $1.1523 on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3526 from $1.3451

Dollar/yen: UP at 146.12 yen from 146.09 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.60 pence from 85.65 pence

burs-jmb/jgc

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP

Dow


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA picks Firefly Aerospace for ambitious 2029 lunar rover and instrument delivery
Team led by MDA Space to define future of Canadian lunar vehicle program
Lunar soil machine developed to build bricks using sunlight

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Designing compact drones to safely navigate air ducts
Map Africa project to deliver continentwide geospatial data for 54 nations
The complex relationship between fusion fuel and lithium walls

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Boeing X37B Spaceplane Prepares for Eighth Orbital Test Mission
Israel military intercepts Huthi missile fired from Yemen; Gaza civil defence says Israel strikes kill 30
BlackSky secures next stage of Navy contract for optical satellite link upgrades

24/7 News Coverage
Cosmic dust particles reveal snapshot of Earth's ancient air
Spire to Provide ESA with Satellite Weather Data for European Research
Gaza seen from above: debris and darkness



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.