Dow falls more than 400 points after Trump comments spike oil, surprise job loss in February

Stocks fell Friday, adding to their weekly declines, as oil prices spiked and traders reacted to an unexpected drop in new U.S. jobs data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 488 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 1% each.

West Texas Intermediate broke above $90 per barrel and ended the week with a 35% gain — its biggest since oil futures trading began in 1983 — as investors weighed the impact of the U.S.-Iran war on global energy supply.

 Oil surged Friday after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that there won’t be a deal to end the U.S.-Iran war without an “unconditional surrender” from the Middle Eastern country.

Qatar’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, told The Financial Times that Gulf energy producers may need to call force majeure in the coming days, shutting down production in a move that could send oil to $150 a barrel. 

The conflict in the Middle East could “bring down the economies of the world,” he warned.

“If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,” the energy minister said. “Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.”

The bands between the high-end and the low-end of oil prices “have widened out significantly,” according to Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. 

Even if you haircut al-Kaabi’s projection by 20%, prices are still at levels that are “scary as hell,” he added.