Oil tanker fire report in Strait of Hormuz sends world shares lower

World shares and U.S. futures retreated Thursday as oil prices jumped more than 2% following an Iranian state television report that seven oil tankers caught fire and were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude rose 3.2% to $112.27 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude gained 2.8% to $99.80. If verified, the incident would mark the largest number of vessels damaged in the waterway in a single day since the Iran war began on Feb. 28. European markets fell, with Germany's DAX down 1.1% and France's CAC 40 off 1.3%, while Asian indexes declined sharply, led by Tokyo's Nikkei 225 losing 2.7% on heavy selling of tech stocks. Oil prices have bounced between $97 and $112 in recent days amid uncertainty over when the war will allow the energy industry to normalize. AI stocks face pressure from worries that data center construction may slow due to rising borrowing costs, though U.S. markets rose Wednesday on strong profit reports from SpaceX and others.