Wall St Week Ahead-Surging oil prices add another worry for frazzled investors

“The stock market would really run into trouble if we went north of US$125 per barrel and stayed there for a while because that would overheat high levels of inflation," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. "That means that the Fed would have to be a lot more aggressive and that certainly would not be a pleasant scenario for the stock market." (File pic shows The Fed building in Washington)

NEW YORK: A U.S. stock market, already on edge from a hawkish Federal Reserve and a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, now has another worry: higher oil prices.

U.S. crude prices stand at around $91 a barrel after surging some 40% since Dec. 1 and earlier this week touched their highest level since 2014. Prices for Brent crude, the global benchmark, have also soared and are near 7-year highs.