Stocks slump, energy prices surge as Iran war rocks global markets

• Stocks slid and energy prices jumped on Tuesday as the Middle Eastern conflict shook world markets.
• Travel stocks extended their declines and energy stocks registered further gains.
• European natural gas futures surged more than 40% after Qatar halted production at a key LNG plant.

Stocks tumbled, and energy commodity prices soared on Tuesday as the conflict between Iran and the US and its allies continued to roil global markets.

Here's where things stood at 6 a.m. ET:

• Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 1% lower, while South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 7%, its sharpest one-day drop in 19 months.
• Germany's DAX was trading 4% lower, while Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 were down around 3%.
• US stocks were poised to open lower. Futures underlying the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq 100 were all down around 2%.
• Crude oil prices have jumped again with Brent and West Texas Intermediate both up around 7% at around $83 and $76 a barrel respectively.
• Bitcoin is down about 3% at around $66,850.
• Precious metal prices have dropped with gold and silver down around 1% and 7% respectively.

One of the morning's most striking moves was a 40% rise in futures for Dutch TTF, the benchmark price for European natural gas, to over 60 euros per megawatt-hour.

The surge was fueled by Qatar suspending production at the world's largest LNG export plant after an Iranian drone strike, as the country accounts for 20% of global supply.

Stock traders were still digesting what the Middle Eastern conflict will mean for stocks. Airline group IAG and hotels group Accor were both down 6% on fears that travel disruptions could continue.

In the US, energy companies including Diamondback, Devon, and Coterra were up about 3% on hopes they'll benefit from higher oil-and-gas prices.

"Asian markets were weak as concern grows about rising energy prices, and US futures suggest investors across the Atlantic are also starting to become more alarmed about the situation in the Middle East," Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said in a morning note.

"The suspension of LNG production in Qatar is a particularly sensitive pressure point and has seen gas prices surge globally," he continued.

"The longer oil and natural gas prices remain elevated, the greater the risk of a meaningful impact on inflation, which could mean higher interest rates, an event that's typically negative for equity markets," he added.

Deutsche Bank researchers wrote in a morning note that the S&P 500 has only fallen more than 15% when an oil shock has caused at least one of three things: at least a 50% to 100% spike in oil prices lasting several months, a significant economic slowdown, or a hawkish response from central banks to combat inflation.

"The critical question over the days ahead will be if one of these boxes is ticked," they wrote.