00:00US stocks fell on Thursday, with the S&P 500 notching its biggest three-day percentage drop in month
00:07as Iranian strikes on two oil tankers sent crude prices surging toward $100 per barrel,
00:13exacerbating already heightened inflation fears and sending investors fleeing equity markets.
00:18All three major US stock indices lead more than 1% in a broad sell-off,
00:23with everything but energy and some defensive stocks suffering steep percentage losses.
00:28The S&P 500 lost 103.18 points, or 1.52%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 404.15 points, or
00:381.78%.
00:39The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 739.42 points, or 1.56%.
00:47Well, today the markets are continuing to go down. A large part of that is driven by the price of
00:52oil.
00:52I think that the markets are afraid that the war is going to last longer than anticipated,
00:57and that is putting downward pressure on equity markets, upward pressure on yields in the fixed
01:03income market. And, you know, because now that there's concerns about the potential of stagflation
01:10if the war goes on too long and oil prices remain elevated.
01:16There's a strong possibility that there might not be any rate cuts this year. A lot of that is going
01:21to depend on the length of this war, and how quickly we can turn the pumps back on for the
01:28oil market.
01:28Because the longer that delay goes, it's going to mean that oil prices will stay elevated for longer.
01:36That will create more inflation. That can also hurt the economy and potentially the labor market and slow down growth.
01:48And so if you have slower growth with higher inflation, you get stagflation and that's just going to feed on
01:53itself.
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