Wall Street closed out August on a downbeat note Monday as stocks fell and the price of oil rose after the US launched its first military action in a month against Iran.
- The Dow fell 374.09 points, or 0.7%, to 53,185.90.
- The S&P 500 fell 25.62 points, or 0.3%, to 7,686.14.
- The Nasdaq fell 31.53 points, or 0.1%, to 26,370.89.
August had no shortage of turbulence for the market, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each posted a gain for the month after losing ground in July and June, the AP reports. The Dow, meanwhile, managed its fifth-straight monthly gain. Monday's losses were broad, with nearly every sector within the benchmark S&P 500 finishing in the red. Energy stocks, though, notched gains. Exxon Mobil rose 2.7%, and Chevron rose 2.1%. On the losing side, Edison International slumped 23.1%, and PG&E fell 20.1%, for the two steepest declines. That followed reports about potential California wildfire legislation that would allow insurers to sue utilities over related claims. Amazon fell 2.5% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Trade Commission and more than 20 states are preparing to sue the online retail giant over claims it manipulated prices on its platform.
The Iran war has curtailed traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for about 20% of the world's oil shipments. Oil prices remain high after a surge earlier in the war, and that has made everything from gasoline to shipped goods more expensive. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.7% to settle at $90.49 per barrel on Monday. Brent fell below $80 earlier in August but has since moved higher with no sign of an imminent end to the war. The national average for gasoline in August has been above $4 per gallon every day of the month for the first time ever, according to the AAA. It has been the most expensive August at the pump on record, outpacing even the enormous supply chain crunch during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.
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