Brent crude briefly tops $119 per barrel before pulling back, and stocks sink worldwide

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices climbed again Thursday because of the war with Iran, tightening their grip on the global economy and sending stock markets lower around the world.

Brent crude, the international standard, briefly rose above $119 per barrel in the morning before pulling back to $110.90, which is still a 3.2% rise from the prior day. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude added 2.2% to $98.40 after Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Persian Gulf in response to an Israeli attack on an important Iranian natural gas field.

The attacks added to fears that fighting may knock out production of oil and gas in the Gulf for a long time, which would mean high prices could last a while and cause inflation to rip higher around the world.

Stock indexes dropped 3.4% in Japan, 2.7% in South Korea, 2.8% in Germany and 2.3% in the United Kingdom. On Wall Street, where trading began after Brent crude’s price pared its big gain and where companies are less reliant on oil from the Gulf, the losses were more modest.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and is on track for a fourth straight losing week, which would be its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 418 points, or 0.9%, as of 12:55 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

President Donald Trump and countries around the world have made moves to stem the spike in oil prices, but they’re mostly short-term fixes when markets want to see less risk for oil and gas fields around the Gulf and a clearance of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails.

Worries are so high about oil prices that traders are now even betting on a slim chance that the Federal Reserve may have to hike interest rates this year. It’s a dramatic turnaround from before the war, when traders were betting heavily that the Fed would cut rates multiple times this year.

Cuts to rates would give the economy and prices for investments a boost, and they’re something Trump has angrily been calling for, but they would risk worsening inflation. The Fed on Wednesday decided to hold off on cutting interest rates at its latest meeting, and traders found comments from Chair Jerome Powell discouraging about the possibility for cuts in 2026.

Now, traders are betting on a 8% chance the Fed could hike its main interest rate by the end of the year and a 80% chance that it will at least hold steady, according to data from CME Group. Just a month ago, those same traders were betting on a 74% probability of two or more cuts.

That drove Treasury yields higher, and the two-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since the summer.

The more widely followed 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.28% from 4.26% late Wednesday, up from just 3.97% before the war with Iran started. Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England held their own interest rates steady.

Besides the threat of higher inflation, a couple of solid reports on the U.S. economy also helped to lift Treasury yields. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, when economists were expecting a slight rise. Another said growth for manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic area unexpectedly accelerated.

Higher Treasury yields have already sent rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans upward, and a report on Thursday showed sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly weakened in January.

Higher Treasury yields also grind down on prices for all kinds of investments, from stocks to crypto to gold. Gold sank 6.1% to $4,598.80 per ounce and touched its lowest price since early February. Silver fell even more and dropped 9.3%.

Stocks of companies that mine such metals fell to some of Wall Street's sharpest losses. Newmont dropped 8.6%, and Freeport-McMoRan sank 4.8%.

Micron Technology fell 3.6% even though it reported a blowout quarter of much higher profit and revenue than analysts expected. It gave back some of its big gain for the year so far, which came into the day at nearly 62% because of a worldwide shortage for computer memory.

Helping to limit Wall Street's losses was Rivian Automotive, which jumped 2.7%. It announced a partnership where Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in the company and expects to buy 10,000 autonomous robotaxis. Uber Technologies fell 1.2%.

AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach, David McHugh and Matt Ott contributed.

Anthony Matesic, left, and James Denaro work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

David O'Day, left, works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near a screen showing international oil prices at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Television screens carry a news conference by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

PHOENIX (AP) — Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched and fasted alongside César Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.

So when Wilcox's daughter called this week to inform them of sexual abuse allegations leveled against Chavez, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez's photos from their restaurant walls and made plans to cover the mural.

“We love César Chavez. But we cannot honor him and we cannot even love him anymore,” said the former Phoenix City Council member.

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with stunning allegations that he sexually abused girls and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America union, Dolores Huerta.

Latino leaders and community groups quickly condemned the alleged abuse by Chavez but emphasized that the farmworker movement was never just about a single man. Chavez died in California in 1993 at age 66.

There were calls to alter memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S. The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state's Hall of Fame — something it's never done before.

Some local and state leaders in both parties urged their communities not to celebrate Chavez's birthday on March 31, and to rename buildings and streets named for him. Celebrations of Chavez in Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

In California, legislative leaders announced Thursday they are going to rename César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in light of the allegations.

California was the first state to designate Chavez’s birthday as a day to honor the civil rights leader nearly 30 years ago. In 2000, the Legislature passed a bill to make it an official paid day off for state employees and require the state to start teaching students about his legacy and his involvement in the labor movement in California.

Many other California workers are given the day off.

Huerta, who is a labor rights legend in her own right, said in a statement released Wednesday that she stayed silent for 60 years for fear her words could hurt the farmworker movement. She said she did not know Chavez had hurt other women.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez; one in which she was “manipulated and pressured” and another when she was “forced against my will.” She said both led to pregnancies, which she kept secret, and that she arranged for the children to be raised by other families.

She joined Chavez in 1962 to co-found the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. For many, they were akin to Martin Luther King. Jr. and Rosa Parks because of their work advocating for racial equality and civil rights.

Huerta's resolve and dedication to civil rights, women's rights and social justice won wide admiration. Some, including a group of Democrats in Texas, are calling for Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s on places that bear his name.

The New York Times first reported Wednesday that it found Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. Huerta, too, revealed to the newspaper that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

Streets, schools and parks across the Southwest bear Chavez’s name. California became the first state to commemorate his birthday, and in 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 César Chavez Day. President Joe Biden had a bronze bust of Chavez installed in the Oval Office when he moved into the White House.

Biden and Obama have not yet commented on the allegations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was still processing the news.

Chavez was full of contradictions even as a union leader, said Miriam Pawel, a California journalist who wrote a biography of him. There was abusive behaviors within the union, but people didn’t speak out because they believed the union was the best way to protect farmworkers, she said.

“For many, many years, for most of those people, even when they saw things that they found disturbing, they did not wanna talk about it,” Pawel said.

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

Chavez’s family said in a statement that they are devastated by the allegations.

“We wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage to come forward. As a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual abuse,” the family said.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation pledged support for the labor leader’s victims, saying — with the Chavez family’s support — the organization will figure out its identity going forward.

The United Farm Workers union quickly distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.

Wilcox, the former Phoenix council member, said Chavez helped people understand the value of workers at all levels.

“There’s two things: Chavez the man and Chavez the man who we didn’t know,” she said. “And the one we knew, we knew the good things he did and the things we saw put in place. ... And the one we did not know is like a monster.”

Golden reported from Seattle and Figueroa reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; and Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

A statute of César Chavez stands in the middle of a plaza at Cesar Chavez Park, honoring the United Farm Workers union founder, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Laveen, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Civil rights leader Cesar Chavez leads a picket against Dole in front of the offices of Castle & Cooke, its parent company, at 50 California St. in San Francisco on Feb. 3, 1982. The United Farm Workers are sponsoring a consumer boycott on Dole products where 300 union members from Ventura, Calif., have been on strike since November. (Steve Ringman/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

FILE - Dolores Huerta, the Mexican-American social activist who formed a farm workers union with Cesar Chavez, stands for the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish while visiting the New Mexico Statehouse in Santa Fe. N.M., on Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File)

FILE - Cesar Chavez, a farm worker, labor organizer and leader of the California grape strike, is seen in a California works office in 1965. (AP Photo, George Brich, File)

FILE - United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez talks to striking Salinas Valley farmworkers during a large rally in Salinas, Calif., on March 7, 1979. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, center, leads a rally in San Francisco's Mission District on Nov. 19, 1988, along with Howard Wallace, president of the San Francisco chapter of the UFW, left, and Maria Elena Chavez, 16, the daughter of Cesar Chavez, right, as part of a national boycott of what the UFW claims is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes. (AP Photo/Court Mast, File)