Dow falls 400 points, oil surges after Trump says Iran ceasefire is over which could halt gas decline

Stocks plunged and oil prices jumped as much as 6% after President Trump said Wednesday the ceasefire with Iran is “over” and the US is preparing another night of strikes in the region after Tehran attacked vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%, or 453 points, by about 9:40 a.m.ET, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slumped 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.Brent crude oil futures jumped 5.4% to $78.18 a barrel, after earlier rising as much as 6% to nearly $79, while West Texas Intermediate crude increased 4.8% to $73.81 a barrel.The national average gasoline price was roughly $3.80 a gallon Wednesday, according to AAA, far below wartime highs of $4.56 – but the price has remained roughly flat over the past few days as US-Iran tensions have reheated. There is typically a one- to two-week lag between movements in the oil markets and prices at the pump – and fresh tensions over the strait, a vital maritime route for 20% of the world’s oil, could keep gasoline from falling below the $3 mark.Asked Wednesday at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, whether the preliminary peace deal with Iran was dead, Trump replied: “To me, I think it’s over.

I don’t want to deal with them anymore.They’re scum.”“We hit them very hard last night,” he added.

“We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”Last month, Trump signed a memorandum of understanding giving the US and Iran 60 days to reach a final agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief and the unfreezing of billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets.The US military on Tuesday launched “powerful” overnight strikes against Iran in response to the nation’s attacks on three commercial ships near the strait, which American officials viewed as a violation of the memorandum.  Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday.Please provide a valid email.

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