Stocks sink on Big Tech cash burn; oil hits $100 for first time since May

July 23 : Oil prices spiked to $100 a barrel for the first time since May, major tech giants knocked U.S. stocks lower, and Europe's borrowing costs spiked to long-term highs in an unsettling day across markets on Thursday. Brent crude jumped 6 per cent to $100.50 a barrel following attacks on tankers in the Red Sea that choked off a second crucial Middle East artery for global oil supplies alongside Iran's near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This marks the first time the international oil benchmark has hit that level since late May as the U.S.-Iran war has heated up again. The Iran-aligned Houthis struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, sending prices higher as the brief cessation of hostilities between Iran and the U.S. recedes in the rear-view mirror.