Daniel Bach

Here's your morning brief for Monday, March 9th.

I'm Daniel Bach for The Wall Street Journal.

Oil prices have crossed $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine rattled oil markets back in 2022.

The global oil benchmark Brent crude surged nearly 30 percent overnight, with Gulf oil producers cutting production as their facilities come under attack and shipping remains paralyzed.

Here's your morning brief for Tuesday, March 3rd.

I'm Daniel Bach for The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S.

is evacuating a number of its diplomatic sites across the Middle East this morning after its embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit by drones.

We report there were no casualties in that attack.

Still, the State Department is closing the U.S.

embassy in Kuwait and ordering non-emergency personnel and their families to leave the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar.

The U.S.

embassy in Abu Dhabi also warned there could be militant attacks in the UAE.

The first commercial flights have started taking off from Dubai, even as airspace remains shot in large parts of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Amazon said it expected extended service outages following drone attacks on three of its data centers in the Middle East.

Two facilities in the United Arab Emirates took direct hits, while a third in Bahrain sustained damage from a nearby strike.

And government bonds are selling off as investors fear the Middle East conflict will drive up oil prices, increase costs for transport, shipping and energy.

That would fuel higher inflation across the board, potentially forcing central banks to respond with rapid interest rate hikes.

Concerns about the economic impact of the conflict are also weighing on stock markets this morning, with Asian and European shares slipping and U.S.

stock futures pointing to a lower open.