Dow loses more than 780 points as oil tops $80 per barrel

Stocks closed Thursday with losses as the escalating war in Iran and the Middle East drove oil prices higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 784 points, a decline of 1.6 percent after falling more than 1,100 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 index closed 0.6 percent lower, and the Nasdaq composite fell by 0.3 percent on the day.

The stock market’s swoon came as growing violence around the Persian Gulf and Iran’s efforts to restrict maritime trade fueled another surge in oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the baseline price for U.S. oil, eclipsed $80 per barrel Thursday, rising more than $5 on the day. Brent crude, a baseline price for international oil, rose more than $3 to hit more than $84 on Thursday.

As the largest producer of crude oil by volume in the world, the U.S. economy does........

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