New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in red Friday after the assassination by the United States of a powerful Iranian general, which made jump oil prices and rekindled fears of an escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.81% to 28,634.88 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq fell 0.79% to 9,020.77 points, and the broad S&P 500 index lost 0.71% to 3,234.85 points.

American clues, all three of which had climbed to new heights the day before, were caught up on Friday by little escalation in the Middle East following the death of Qassem Soleimani, an influential Iranian official killed in an attack on Friday. drones led by the United States in Baghdad.

The strike, which has aroused worried reactions around the world, was ordered by US President Donald Trump after an attack on Tuesday against the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Fear of disruption of black gold production in the Middle East, barrel prices immediately rose to 4% before ending up 3.5% in London and 3.1% in New York.

Sectors such as air transport, for which fuel represents a significant cost, have been at their expense, American Airlines losing for example 4.95%.

For Ian Shepherdson, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, the question now is "not whether Iran will fight back but how." And "for the markets, the key element is the impact that Iran's response may have on oil prices", especially if Iranian oil infrastructure becomes the target of possible reprisals or if Tehran decides to block the movement of tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rising fuel prices can weigh on the budgets of American consumers, but would also benefit many crude producers in the United States.

"The Federal Reserve has publicly acknowledged that rising oil prices are no longer slowing economic growth, but markets and the media have yet to fully integrate this idea," said Shepherdson.

For Gregori Volokhine of Messchaert Financial Services, the drop in the indices on Friday remained fairly moderate in the end.

The brokers "still remember September and the attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia," he said. "The movements in the markets had been wiped out in a few days."

For investors, "this is a geopolitical event which, like many others, does not change the dynamics of the market that has been in place for months: we have the wind in our backs with a economy that looks rather better than expected, trade tensions are subsiding and the Federal Reserve on the investor side, "said Mr. Volokhine.

© 2020 AFP