Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
Stock futures were under pressure Thursday as oil prices added to their surge on supply disruption worries while the Iran war continued.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 213 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures lost roughly 0.3% along with Nasdaq 100 futures.
Late Wednesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will take about 120 days to deliver the fuel. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump said in an interview with Cincinnati broadcaster WKRC that he would tap the reserve.
However, markets remained under pressure as crude prices continued to climb. West Texas Intermediate futures traded 4.5% higher at $91.20 per barrel. Brent crude advanced 4.7% to $96.29 and briefly touched $100.
The S&P 500 and the 30-stock Dow declined on Wednesday as investors remained wary of the impact of the U.S.-Iran war on oil prices throughout the day, as higher costs stoke fears of inflation.
Oil prices rose in the previous session even after the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil in an effort to aid the supply disruption caused by the ongoing conflict.
U.S. forces on Tuesday sunk 16 mine-laying Iranian ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as oil tanker traffic remains stalled amid threat of Iranian attacks. Insurance company Chubb was announced as the lead underwriter for a U.S. government-led program to provide insurance to ships attempting to traverse the strait.
These moves come after Trump earlier this week said that the war will end “very soon,” which had caused a reprieve in surging oil prices after they topped $100 a barrel.