Japan's Nikkei 225 share index falls more than 7% as oil soars to $114 a barrel

BANGKOK (AP) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 7% early Monday and other Asian markets also tumbled after oil prices soared to about $114 a barrel due to disruptions from the war in the Middle East, casting a shadow over economies heavily dependent on imported crude and gas from the region.

The Nikkei was down just over 7% at 51,694.16 shortly after trading began. South Korea's Kospi sank 7.4% to 5,162.83 and shares in Australia and New Zealand fell more than 3%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 3.1% and the Shanghai Composite index was down 1.7%.

The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 2%.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, was trading at $114.11 a barrel and U.S. benchmark crude jumped to $114.00 a barrel. Both were more than 20% above their closing prices Friday.

Crude prices are at their highest level since shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Supply concerns have driven crude and gasoline higher as the war ensnares major oil-producing countries and hinders exports from the Persian Gulf.

“The market woke up to the sound every macro trader dreads. The oil alarm bell. And this time it was not a polite chime. It was a fire siren,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Surging oil and gas prices, if they persist, could cascade through the global economy, further complicating matters for countries still adjusting to higher tariffs on exports to the United States under President Donald Trump.

Senior officials of Southeast Asian countries were meeting this week in Manila, the Philippines, to discuss ways to counter the shock from higher energy costs.

The increases followed the U.S. crude price jumping by 36% and Brent crude rising by 28% last week. Oil prices have surged as the war, now in its second week, ensnared countries and places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf.

If oil prices stay above $100 per barrel, some analysts and investors say it could cause serious damage to the global economy.

On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.3% after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs last month than they created and after oil prices shot above $90 per barrel. The combination of a weak economy and high inflation is a worst-case scenario for investors because the Federal Reserve has no good tool to fix both problems at the same time.

The Dow plunged as many as 945 points before finishing with a loss of 453, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.

Early Monday, the U.S. dollar, which retains its status as a safe haven for investors bracing against uncertainty, gained against other major currencies. It was trading at 158.67 Japanese yen, up 0.9% from Friday's close. The euro fell to $1.1514, down from $1.1618.

Bobby Charmak works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A TV cameraman films the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Electronic stock boards show Japan's Nikkei index at a foreign exchange brokerage firm Monday, March 9, 2026, in Tokyo.(Kyodo News via AP)

A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, March 9, 2026, in Tokyo.(Kyodo News via AP)

Pedestrians mill about outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The New York Stock Exchange is seen in New York, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its riding-hailing platform.

The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.

The feature, announced in a blog post, allows women to request a female driver through an option on the app called “Women Drivers.” Passengers can opt for another ride if the wait for a woman is too long, and they can also reserve a trip with a woman driver in advance. A third option allows female users to set a preference for a woman driver in their app settings, which would increase the chances of being matched with a female driver, though it would not guarantee it. Uber is also allowing its teen account users to request women drivers.

Uber's women drivers can set the app's preferences to request trips with female riders, and they can turn off that preference at anytime.

Uber, based in San Francisco, says about one-fifth of its drivers in the U.S. are women, thought the ratio varies by city.

Two California Uber drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber in November, arguing that its Women Preferences feature violates California’s Unruh Act, which prohibits sex discrimination by business enterprises. The lawsuit charges that the feature gives its minority female drivers access to the entire pool of passengers, while leaving its majority male drivers to compete for a smaller pool of passengers. The lawsuit also argues that Uber’s policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women.”

Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration in the case, citing an agreement the plaintiffs signed when joining the app as drivers. In the motion, Uber disputed that its new feature violates the Unruh Act, saying it “serves a strong and recognized public policy interest in enhancing safety.”

“This feature is a common sense solution to a long-standing request from both women Drivers and Riders who told Uber they would feel more comfortable and safer if they could choose to ride with another woman,” the company said in the court filing.

Two Lyft drivers have filed a similar lawsuit against that company against its “Women+Connect” feature, which allows women and nonbinary riders to match with drivers of the same identification.

Uber piloted the “Women Preferences” feature in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit last summer and expanded it to 26 U.S. cities in November. The company first launched a version of the feature in Saudi Arabia in 2019 following the country's landmark law granting women the right to drive. It now offers similar options in 40 other countries, including Canada and Mexico.

Both Uber and Lyft have for years faced criticism over their safety records, including thousands of reports of sexual assaults from both passengers and drivers. In February, federal jury found Uber to be legally responsible in a 2023 case of sexual assault and the company was ordered to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona woman who said she was raped by one of its drivers.

Uber maintains that because its drivers are contractors and not employees, it’s not liable for their misconduct. But Uber says has taken multiple steps in efforts to improve safety, including teaming up with Lyft in 2021 to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints over sexual assault and other crimes.

Uber says sexual assault reports have decreased over the years. According to reports from Uber, 5,981 incidents of sexual assault were reported in U.S. rides between 2017 and 2018 — compared to 2,717 between 2021 and 2022 (the latest years with data available), which the platform says represented 0.0001% of total trips nationwide.

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - An Uber sign is displayed at the company's headquarters, in San Francisco, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - In this March 15, 2017, file photo, a sign marks a pickup point for the Uber car service at LaGuardia Airport in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)