Calm returns to markets as oil prices fall

US Stocks Steady as Wall Street Awaits Next Sign on How Long Iran War May Last US Stocks Steady as Wall Street Awaits Next Sign on How Long Iran War May Last NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market held steady Tuesday as Wall Street awaited the next signal on when the war with Iran might end. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, a day after its latest wild swings triggered by extreme moves in the oil market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose less than 0.1%. Meanwhile, oil prices remained well below their highs reached on Monday. These spikes have been shaking financial markets around the world due to concerns that the war could block the global flow of oil and natural gas for a long time. The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, closed at $87.80. That's 11.3% less than its closing price the previous day, but much of that drop occurred on Monday before the U.S. stock market finished trading. That's why Tuesday didn't give much of a boost to U.S. stocks. Oil prices plunged Monday afternoon from a high of nearly $120 a barrel, their most expensive level since 2022, after President Donald Trump told CBS News that he believes “the war is virtually complete.” That raised hopes that the war could end relatively soon, which could allow oil to flow freely again from the Middle East to customers around the world. But Trump's comments later on Monday, after the US stock market finished trading, were not as clear. And a spokesman for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that "Iran will determine when the war will end." Iran launched new attacks on Tuesday against Israel and Arab Gulf countries, maintaining pressure on the Middle East in a war started by Israel and the United States. That has Wall Street waiting for the next clue about how long the war may last. One point Trump made clear was his desire to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. The war has effectively blocked the waterway off the coast of Iran, through which a fifth of the world's oil sails on a normal day. That has been a central reason for the recent extreme swings in oil prices, which have dominated other financial markets and raised concerns about the global economy. “If Iran does anything to stop the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, the United States of America will hit them TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have hit it so far,” Trump said in a post on his social network on Monday night. "The outlook for oil right now is binary," according to Hakan Kaya, senior portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman. "Either the Strait of Hormuz reopens and you see a massive reduction in the risk premium, or it remains closed and we are facing the largest supply disruption in modern history. There is no middle ground, and so putting a number on it is almost irresponsible." The U.S. stock market has a history of recovering relatively quickly from military conflicts, as long as oil prices don't stay too high for too long. Uncertainty about whether that will happen this time has caused stunning swings up and down in markets around the world, often hour by hour. If oil prices remain high for too long, household budgets, already strained by high inflation, could collapse under the pressure. Companies would see their own bills rise for fuel and for storing items on their store shelves or in their data warehouses. All of this raises the possibility of a worst-case scenario for the global economy: “stagflation,” where growth stagnates and inflation remains high. On Wall Street, Vertex Pharmaceuticals jumped 8.3%, notching the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after reporting encouraging trends from a trial for its treatment for a type of life-threatening kidney disease. West P