Oil tops $100, stocks slide as Middle East tensions escalate

Gold XAU= gained 1.1% to around $4,403 an ounce. GOL/ Sept. 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude prices surged past $100 a barrel on Wednesday, as escalating conflict in the Middle East fuelled worries about energy-driven inflation and sent global stocks tumbling ahead of several major central bank decisions. Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose as much as 3% to a session high of $100.95, breaching the symbolic price level for the first time since July 24, after Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan and both sides claimed to have attacked vessels, raising worries about oil supplies from the region. O/R Stock markets across the globe came under pressure as the latest surge in energy prices drove concerns that higher inflation will prompt central banks to keep monetary policy tighter for longer. U.S. stock index futures Escv1, NQcv1 fell about half a percent, setting Wall Street indexes up for a third consecutive day of losses. .N The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX dropped 1.5% by 1123 GMT, on course for its biggest percentage drop in two months, with economically sensitive banking .SX7P and industrial .SXNP stocks among the top decliners. .EU The euro EUR=EBS edged higher ahead of the European Central Bank's policy decision on Thursday, with markets widely expecting a hike amid inflationary pressures from the Iran war. The currency rose to a more than one-week high of $1.16493. The yen JPY=EBS strengthened towards the nearly seven-month high touched against the dollar on Tuesday as traders exited short positions in the Japanese currency. Expectations are building for faster Bank of Japan rate hikes and a potential rush of repatriation of Japanese capital. Both Japan and the euro zone are energy importers. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the benchmark for global borrowing costs, traded at 4.808%. It touched a near three-year high of 4.818% last week as traders ramped up expectations of a tighter monetary policy. U.S. producer and consumer price reports, set to be released later this week, are seen as a real test for those bets, with policymakers looking for further evidence that inflation pressures are continuing to cool. Traders assign close to 60% odds for a quarter-point hike or a hold from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday of next week, while being all but certain of a quarter-point increase from the BOJ two days later. The yen strengthened around 0.4% to 153.350 per dollar JPY=, edging back towards its high of 152.89 from the previous session. It had surged around 4% over the last five sessions, with hawkish comments from BOJ officials ostensibly initiating a move that then snowballed as breaks of key levels triggered additional buying, market players said. Sterling GBP= edged 0.1% higher at $1.3558. The Bank of England is due to announce its latest policy decision on Thursday of next week, with economists predicting the key rate will be on hold for the remainder of this year.

Oil tops $100, stocks slide as Middle East tensions escalate

Gold rises as investors seek safety

Oil tops $100 as Middle East tensions escalate

Currencies and bonds reflect tighter policy expectations

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