Global stocks fell on Thursday, weighed by tepid trading in equity markets across the U.S. and other major regions, while oil prices jumped, buoyed by rising geopolitical tension from the Middle East conflict.

Iran is a major player in the global oil market, producing more than three million barrels of oil a day, so the growing risk of a supply disruption could be a “big tailwind to prices” in the near term, according to Blue Line Futures’ Bill Baruch.

In a predictably grim phenomenon tied to outbreaks of global violence, aerospace and defense stocks climbed to record prices in an otherwise down day for the stock market, as Wall Street reacted to the latest escalation in the Middle East by anticipating larger contracts for military suppliers.