Tre2 (Revised)

New York's major stock indexes all plunged as oil prices surged on reports of attacks on Middle East energy facilities. Investor sentiment also froze after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made hawkish remarks favoring monetary tightening while the Fed kept interest rates unchanged.

On March 18 (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 46,225.15 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), down 768.11 points, or 1.63%, from the previous session.

The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 91.39 points, or 1.36%, to 6,624.70, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 327.11 points, or 1.46%, to finish at 22,152.42.

Oil prices, which had shown signs of stabilizing at one point, jumped sharply that day. The move followed Israel's bombing of Iran's largest gas field and Iran's retaliatory airstrikes on energy facilities in neighboring countries.

Israel attacked South Pars, Iran's largest gas field, and a natural gas refining complex in Asaluyeh on Iran's southwestern coast. Iran retaliated by launching missile strikes on Qatar's gas facilities, which account for 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply.

Brent crude futures for May delivery settled at $107.38 a barrel, up 3.8% from the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for April delivery closed at $96.32 a barrel, up 0.1%.

Inflation data also unsettled the market. The U.S. Labor Department reported that the producer price index (PPI) for February rose 0.7% from the previous month, far exceeding analysts' forecast of 0.3%. The year-on-year increase was 3.4%, the highest in a year.

At the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that concluded that day, Powell expressed concern that rising oil prices could intensify inflationary pressure and weigh on U.S. economic growth. The Fed kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50~3.75%.