Stocks slide as oil prices rise again ahead of midterms

Stocks slide as oil prices rise again ahead of midterms

Stocks tumbled on Friday , as oil prices rose again amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.

At closing, the Nasdaq Composite was down roughly 53.5 points from Thursday. The index is down by more than 1,600 points since closing time on Oct. 6, when it finished at its highest mark of the year.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, sunk by nearly 40 points since Thursday’s closing. The index dipped as low as 7,612, its lowest point in more than a month.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, is trading at almost $116 per barrel as of Friday, its highest point since late April — roughly two months into the Iran war.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the standard for North American markets, closed at $103.44 , after reaching $103.92 earlier in the day.

The rise in oil prices from geopolitical shocks has carried harsh consequences for Americans, who are paying higher prices at the pump ahead of the midterm elections.

Regular gas costs roughly $4.29 per gallon on average, while the price of a gallon of diesel is above $6.30, according to data from AAA.

That lends President Trump and the GOP a tough hand with voting already underway, as Democrats seek to take control of Congress for the bulk of the president’s final two years in office.

“Gas and diesel prices will continue to skyrocket based on the policies of [Trump] and his Republican enablers,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif), the No. 4 House Democrat, wrote Friday on social platform X. “November is coming.”

Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter , I’m Max Rego — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond:

The Treasury Department on Thursday moved to implement tenets of a bipartisan housing law Congress passed over the summer, including a ban on institutional investors buying single-family homes.

U.S. consumer sentiment flatlined from September to October, as persistent inflation squeezes Americans’ finances.

What Democrats would do about Gen Z’s housing crisis if they win Congress

Generation Z wants legislation that targets affordability and housing costs. Democrats think they can do it better than Republicans.

Tech mogul Elon Musk has spent more than $442 million in the midterm elections, after pouring another $76.8 million into his super PAC over the past month, campaign finance filings show.

Branch out with more stories from the day:

Inside the unlikely coalition taking on prediction markets

A fight over who can regulate prediction markets and whether they constitute gambling is creating strange bedfellows, as the two sides dig in for a protracted legal battle with millions of dollars at stake.

Business and economic news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

Qatar deal to buy U.S. natural gas shows how Iran war has redrawn global energy markets ( CNBC )

Airfares are way up compared to last year. Don’t expect it to change this holiday season ( CNN )

Surging economy gets off to a good start in the fourth quarter — but there’s one big problem ( MarketWatch )

President Trump called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to “IMMEDIATELY resign” and accused her of using a fake name in a Truth Social post on Thursday evening. Read more

The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit that aims to block certification of the Senate election in Alaska if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses his reelection bid. Read more

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