Six facts: How the Middle East war is shaking markets, oil and the global economy

A delivery staff unloads liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders from a truck at a distribution point in Mumbai on March 10, 2026. Oil prices tanked and equities rallied on March 10, following a wild day of swings that came after Donald Trump said the US-Israel war on Iran would be ending earlier than thought. T Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war on Tuesday: – Asian and European stock markets rallied, and energy prices eased after US President Donald Trump signalled that the US-Israel war on Iran was “going to be ended soon”.

– Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index added more than three percent and the Nang Seng was up 1.5 percent in Hong Kong while Seoul’s soared more than six percent as Shanghai advanced a more cautious 0.5 percent. – European equities were also in the green. Frankfurt’s DAX index of top German companies jumped 2.2 percent, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.7 percent and London’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.6 percent.

Milan added 2.5 percent. – World oil prices dropped by around eight percent and European natural gas prices plunged after Trump’s comments. – Brent crude and US crude oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate were hovering either side of the $90 a barrel mark after Monday soaring to almost $120 on fears of fallout disruption to energy supplies from the Middle East.

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– But they remain around 20 percent higher than prior to the start of the conflict. – European gas prices tumbled around 15 percent with the Dutch TTF natural gas contract, considered the European benchmark, trading at around 48 euros ($56), after rising sharply the day before. – Iran on Tuesday vowed to block oil exports from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues, in a stark rebuke to Trump’s boast that the conflict was all but over.

– Oil prices spiked after Iranian attacks on shipping closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader. – The Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) mocked Trump’s apparent bid to lessen the economic impact of the war, warning: “The Iranian armed forces… will not allow the export of a single litre of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice.”

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