Oil Price Surge Weighs on US Futures as Brent Hits $114.92

US stock futures fell on Friday as crude oil climbed to levels last seen in May, with Brent up 1.6% to $114.92 per barrel and US benchmark crude up 1.8% to $101.22. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3%, Dow Jones futures slid 0.6% and Nasdaq futures dipped 0.1%.

Oil and gasoline pressure

The oil move is feeding through to petrol costs. The US national average for a gallon of regular gas rose 2 cents to $4.29 on Friday, according to AAA, compared with $3.07 a gallon a year ago. Brent leaped 4% on Thursday and has shot up from less than $97 at the start of the month on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.

Turkey hosted meetings on Friday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European nations, the UK, France, Germany and Italy, to discuss conflicts in the Middle East and efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war.

AI stocks swing

Concerns about the cost of building out artificial intelligence continue to weigh on stocks this week, though a sell-off eased early on Friday. AI-related stocks have been swinging on worries that the booming sector may be under threat from the rising costs of borrowing money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.

Meta Platforms, which is pushing its Muse AI agent, fell slightly before the market opened on Friday after reporting stronger than expected revenue for the latest quarter, though profits fell short. The Facebook and Instagram parent, which closed down 7% on Thursday, also said it is creating a new class of stock to raise money to pay for AI investments and other expenses.

Tesla was a bit higher in premarket trading after closing down 3.1% on Thursday as the electric vehicle maker reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, though its revenue was weaker than forecast. Nvidia, the chip giant, fell 4.4% at Thursday's close but made slight gains before Friday's market open. Nvidia is the largest company on Wall Street by total value, and movements in its stock carry more weight on the S&P 500 than any other.

Europe and currencies

In Europe, Germany's DAX dropped 0.8% to 25,171.50, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.7% to 7,756.34. Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.5% to 10,670.55. Asian markets were mostly higher.

The US dollar rose to 156.92 Japanese yen from 156.77 yen. The euro fell to $1.1195 from $1.1218.

For Nigerian consumers and businesses, the oil price climb adds to fuel and import cost risks, even as this report gives no direct naira figure.