Oil Prices Soar Amid Supply Concerns, Rate Hikes Loom

Oil prices surged anew on Monday as supply concerns mounted in Asia, causing share markets to slide. Brent crude climbed 3% and US crude rose 2.8% after new strikes in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf tested nerves.

New developments included an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline and an advance by Yemen's Houthis that threatened to worsen wartime disruption to global energy supplies.

Investors are also bracing for possible interest rate hikes in both the US and Japan this week, with markets implying around an 86% chance of a 25 basis point hike from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan, expects the Fed to hike twice this year, in September and December. 'We now expect the Fed to hike twice this year,' he said.