Dow falls 250 points, oil jumps 4% as Trump warns Iran better get serious soon

US stocks fell Thursday morning and oil prices jumped 4% as President Trump warned Iranian negotiators they “better get serious soon” amid conflicting reports over peace talks.The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 250 points, or 0.5%, by approximately 9:35 a.m.ET, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively.Brent crude futures – which saw some relief earlier this week, dropping below $100 a barrel – skyrocketed back up to $106.64.

West Texas Intermediate crude jumped nearly 4% to $93.83 a barrel.As Tehran maintains its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and the war in Iran shows no signs of stopping in its fourth week, investors are hoping for a short-lived conflict that will allow oil prices to normalize and relieve pressure on gasoline.But attacks on critical Middle Eastern energy infrastructure could keep prices elevated even if the war ends soon, since damages will need to be repaired, and Trump signaled Thursday morning that tensions are high between the two regions.“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal…and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal,’” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday morning.“They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”Iranian leaders rejected a 15-point peace plan from the Trump administration, according to state media, which reported that officials in Tehran have no plans to hold talks with the US.“Any sustainable market recovery will require meaningful progress toward a peace agreement and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, said in a note Thursday.“With the S&P 500 approaching major support at its November lows, there is little room for further deterioration before correction territory comes into play.”The Russell 2000 index ...