Mumbai, July 27 -- Brent oil shot to its highest price since May after increased fighting in the Middle East on Thursday threatened to slow the global flow of crude. At the same time, sharp drops for two of Wall Street's most influential companies, Alphabet and Tesla, yanked the U.S. stock market to its worst loss in a month.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% and is on track for its first back-to-back weekly loss since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 506 points (1%) and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.2%.

Stocks fell under the pressure of rising oil prices which raise costs for businesses and erode their customers' ability to spend. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, jumped 7% to settle at $100.69. It...