Crude prices jumped in the hours after US President Donald Trump launched military air strikes early Friday on Syria in response to a chemical attack by the Syrian government earlier this week.
Reuters reported that the Dow, the S&P and Nasdaq futures each declined around 0.3 percent after the US fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military airbase.
Reuters said that crude prices jumped more than 2 percent, its highest level for a month.
At 2:30 GMT, West Texas Intermediate traded up 1.7 percent to $52.92, while Brent crude registered a 1.6 percent increase at $56.06, according to Reuters.
Analysts noted that the market impact of the US attacks was likely to be short-lived, since Trump had described it as a "one-off". All we can do is wait and see.
