A trader at the New York Stock Exchange, May 27, 2026 ( AFP / ANGELA WEISS)
World stock markets ended in the red on Wednesday, and oil rose, with markets feeling the effect of tensions in the Middle East after new clashes between the United States and Iran.
Wall Street also ends a series of records: the Dow Jones lost 1.21%, the Nasdaq index fell 0.89% while the S&P 500 index lost 0.73%.
In Europe, the Paris Stock Exchange ended down 0.71%, the Frankfurt Dax lost 1.31%, and Milan 1.07%.
Even the London Stock Exchange lost 0.40% despite oil stocks supported by crude prices (BP +1.83% and Shell +1.70%).
Stock market indices came under pressure as the United States and Iran attacked each other overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, each accusing the other of violating an increasingly fragile ceasefire.
Kuwait denounced on Wednesday an Iranian drone strike on its airport, the first deadly attack since the entry into force of a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran on April 8.
“Investors assumed that a deal was going to be reached, but that didn’t materialize,” Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management told AFP. “The market is therefore starting to become impatient with this situation.”
It is not “a panic sale, but clearly a session marked by risk aversion: oil prices have risen sharply” and “concerns about inflation have come back to the fore”, summarizes Patrick Munnelly, of Tickmill Group.
Le petrole monte
“Oil prices continue their rise after reaching their lowest level in five weeks on Friday,” says David Morrison of Trade Nation.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea gained 1.89% to 97.81 dollars. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, rose 2.41% to $96.02.
“The latest developments suggest that investors may have been too quick to integrate the impact of the memorandum of understanding” mentioned by Washington at the end of last week, explains Kathleen Brooks, analyst at XTB.
The latter provided for a 60-day extension of the ceasefire and an opening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the American media Axios.
Navigation in this strategic maritime passage – where 20% of the oil and gas consumed in the world usually transits – remains practically impossible, due to a double blockade imposed by the United States and Iran.
At the same time, Washington continues to draw on its crude stocks.
The strategic reserve (SPR), called upon since the start of the conflict in the Middle East to reduce the surge in energy prices, lost 8 million barrels last week according to figures published Wednesday by the American Energy Information Agency (EIA).
In mid-May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) had already sounded the alarm in the face of a “record” meltdown in oil reserves as the war in the Middle East bogged down.
Interest rates on the rise
Persistent concerns about inflation fueled by high energy prices are pushing up interest rates on sovereign loans in the government debt market.
The yield on the “Bund”, the ten-year German bond, rose to nearly 3.04% against 2.97% the day before, and its French equivalent followed at nearly 3.67% against 3.59%.
In the United States also, “the yields on American Treasury bonds increased, investors preparing for a new series of major economic publications, while persistent tensions in the Middle East continued to darken the general market climate”, notes Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at market for Forex.com.
The rate on the American loan with a 10-year maturity stood at nearly 4.49% compared to 4.44% on Tuesday.
