Brent price soars 13%, stocks fall: markets react to war in the Middle East
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The cost of Brent oil jumped 13% to $82 after the opening of trading at the beginning of the working week. Investors also sold shares, reducing risks: futures on the main index of U.S. stocks S&P 500 fell by 0.9%. Gold, a traditional safe haven asset, rose by 1.6%.
Bitcoin was trading around the $65.6 thousand mark, according to Coinmarketcap. On February 28, the cryptocurrency market was the first to react to the war in the Middle East: the largest cryptocurrency was losing more than 6%, falling to $63.2 thousand.
Israel and the US launched a joint military operation against Iran on February 28. According to WSJ sources, more than 2,000 targets were hit by airstrikes in Iran over the weekend. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and four dozen high-ranking officials were killed.
Iran has retaliated by shelling Israel and Persian Gulf countries where U.S. military bases are located. Of the countries targeted, five - Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain - reported that air defense forces collectively intercepted 1,400 Iranian missiles and drones. Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, seaports and other critical infrastructure were attacked. Air travel in the region is paralyzed: according to Flightradar24, seven airports in the Middle East on March 1 canceled more than 3,400 flights, writes WSJ. In fact, the movement of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage through which about a quarter of the world's maritime oil trade passes, has been halted. The UAE regulator decided on Monday and Tuesday not to open the stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two key markets in the country.
Donald Trump wrote on social media on February 28 that airstrikes on Iran would continue "for a week or as long as it takes." On March 1, in an interview with The Atlantic, he said that Iran's interim leadership wants to resume negotiations with the United States, and he is open to these talks.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
