STOCK EXCHANGE: Wall Street opened with a clear decline

Wall Street opened to a clear decline on Monday, as the sharp rise in oil prices to more than $100 per barrel has weighed on stocks around the world. The market has feared that the rise in energy prices will trigger stagflation, where inflation accelerates while economic growth slows down.

The broad-based S&P 500 index was down 1.4 percent about half an hour after the stock market opened, and the technology-focused Nasdaq was down 1.2 percent.

The Dow Jones index was also down by 1.8 percent.

Shares in Asia and Europe have also fallen sharply earlier in the day.

The reason for the increase in oil prices is the military actions of the United States and Israel in Iran, which have practically stopped the import of oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait in question is a key bottleneck in the energy market, as a significant part of the world’s oil passes through it.

The price of oil is now the most expensive in many years. The last time the price of a barrel of oil crossed the $100 mark was in 2022 as a result of the energy crisis triggered by the Russian war of aggression.