World Markets Tumble, Oil Spikes as Prospects of Military Intervention in Syria Rise

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Junko Kimura / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Global stock markets plummeted and the price of oil rose Wednesday with the increasing likelihood of Western military intervention in the Syrian conflict.

Concerns over a strike on Damascus pushed markets down.  Across Asia-Pacific, stocks fell by few percentage points after U.S. stocks indices closed 1% to 2% lower on Tuesday. European markets tumbled as well, the Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S crude oil surged to a two-year high at $112 per barrel on worries that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s war could spread through the region and “disrupt flow of oil from the Middle East,” the Associated Press reported.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has signaled the United States’ preparedness to act against the use of chemical weapons in the civil war, as soon as the armed forced get their orders from President Barack Obama.

[Wall Street Journal]
[Associated Press]