Oil prices are climbing, and stocks are slipping Monday as violence in the Middle East injects more unease into financial markets worldwide. The Standard & Poor's 500 was 0.2% lower in its first trading since Hamas launched a surprise attack over the weekend against Israel, which then formally declared war. The Dow Jones Industrial average was down 26 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.
The stock market has been broadly shaky since the end of July, buckling under the pressure of much higher yields in the bond market. With inflation still too high for policy maker’s liking, and the U.S. economy remaining in relatively solid shape, expectations have built on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will keep its main interest rate high for longer than traders wanted.