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Financial Markets 03/24 09:33
NEW YORK (AP) -- With airstrikes still battering Iran and missiles still
targeting sites across the Middle East, some of the optimism that sent stocks
rallying the day before drained out of Wall Street on Tuesday. Oil prices got
back to rising, and U.S. stocks are returning some of their gains.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 3.5% to $103.42, a day after
slumping more than 10%. The main measure of the U.S. stock market, the S&P 500,
fell 0.4% to give back more than a third of its climb from the day before.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 351 points, or 0.8%, as of 9:35
a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.
The optimism at the week's start came after President Donald Trump raised
hopes that the war could end soon when he said the United States and Iran held
productive talks "regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities
in the Middle East." His statement on social media caused stocks to flip
immediately from losses to gains.
It calmed worries that the war may cause a long-term disruption to the oil
and natural gas industry in the Persian Gulf, one big enough to send a blast of
inflation to the region's customers worldwide.
But Iran has denied such talks are underway, and attacks continued on
Tuesday. Iran remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under
the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks,
including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 4.6% to $92.17,
clawing back some of its 10.3% plunge from the day before.
In the bond market, Treasury yields also returned to rising and upped the
pressure on financial markets worldwide. Higher yields make mortgages and other
kinds of borrowing more expensive for households and for businesses, which
slows the economy. They also push downward on prices for all kinds of
investments, from stocks to gold to cryptocurrencies.
High Treasury yields and disruption in the bond market were factors that
Trump named a year ago when he backed off his initial threats for global
tariffs made on "Liberation Day." The moves caused critics to allege that Trump
always chickens out, or "TACO," if financial markets show enough pain.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40% from 4.34% late Monday and
from just 3.97% before the war.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations
for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, rose to
3.90% from 3.83% late Monday.
The Fed came into this year with expectations of resuming its cuts to
interest rates, which would give the economy a boost. But oil prices have
jumped so much and the threat of high inflation is so large that traders have
nearly erased their bets for a cut to rates this year. Instead, some are even
betting on the possibility that the Fed may have to hike rates by December,
according to data from CME Group. That's a scenario that was nearly unthinkable
before the war began.
Higher interest rates would slow the economy, but they would also help keep
a lid on inflation.
On Wall Street, companies with big fuel bill fell after the price of oil
resumed its climb. United Airlines lost 2.7%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holding
fell 2.8%.
Estee Lauder dropped 5.6% after it confirmed it's in merger talks with
Spanish cosmetics company Puig. The potential deal could put such brands as
MAC, Clinique, Charlotte Tilbury and Apivita together under one company. Estee
Lauder said no final decision has been made yet.
The market's losses would have been even worse Tuesday if not for Smithfield
Foods. Its stock rose 4.7% after the meat company reported stronger profit and
revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe. Asian stocks rose in their
first chance to trade following Trump's statement about talks with Iran. Hong
Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.8%, and South Korea's Kospi climbed 2.7% for two of
the world's larger moves.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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