Wall Street closes lower, posts weekly loss, as Iran war fuels inflation worries

US stocks ended down on Friday, capping a week in which erratic crude oil prices whipsawed equities, as investors gauged how the war in Iran was affecting the global oil supply.

All three major US stock indexes logged daily and weekly declines.

Crude prices fluctuated before heading higher, even after US President Donald Trump temporarily eased sanctions on Russian oil to assuage supply concerns.

“We’ve seen volatility in the energy market that rivals any two-week period in cryptocurrency history. So, it’s hard to say that it’s being driven by fundamentals,” says Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor & market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois. “It’s very much an emotional market, so it really doesn’t make sense trying to trade, let alone invest in this market.”

Nolte adds: “You just sit back and wait for things to unfold and to settle, and that may happen over the course of a couple of weeks.”