NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are edging higher on a calmer Wall Street after a report showed U.S. inflation was not as bad last month as economists expected. The gains early Tuesday came even though oil prices continue to jump on worries that the United States and Iran may return to all-out war. The S&P 500 added 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 75 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%. Stocks got a lift from easing yields in the bond market, which fell after a report said U.S. consumer prices were 3.5% higher than a year earlier last month.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks futures wavered after a report showed that inflation at the consumer level cooled significantly in June.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose again Tuesday as fighting intensified in the Middle East, with the price of U.S. crude oil topping $80 for the first time in a month. The price of Brent crude climbed 4.3% to $86.90 a barrel after soaring nearly 10% on Monday.
Oil prices are still below their wartime peak of nearly $120 a barrel, but uncertainty over the future stability of supplies has deepened as the U.S. and Iran each assert they control the Strait of Hormuz. Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the waterway to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, driving up fuel prices worldwide.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. Nasdaq futures added 1%.
Bond yields fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling to 4.57% from 4.61% just prior to the latest inflation report.
In European trading, Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.3%. In Britain, the FTSE 100 was mostly unchanged.
Markets in Asia closed higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 67,743.50.
Shares in SoftBank Group Corp., which has huge investments in AI, jumped 3.3% after its chairman, Masayoshi Son, gave a speech at a company event in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI.
The Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.7% to 6,856.83.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.4% to 3,967.13.
The government reported that China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as adoption of artificial intelligence drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology. China is due to report its economic data for the last quarter on Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.5% to 24,340.73, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was unchanged at 8,805.00.
Wall Street’s attention is turning to profit reports for the spring. On Tuesday alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all releasing their latest quarterly results showing that the nation’s biggest banks are benefiting from robust activity in stocks and capital markets and the resilience of the U.S. consumer.
JPMorgan shares fell 1.4% while Bank of America shares rose 0.7%.
Analysts are forecasting that companies in the S&P 500 index will deliver overall growth of 23.6% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they are right, it would be the second straight quarter of growth better than 20%.
Companies across industries will need to deliver strong growth to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near records despite their sharp recent swings due to worries around AI stocks.
More costly oil would push inflation higher, potentially leading the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates. Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivers testimony about monetary policy to a Senate panel later Tuesday.
Elaine Kurtenbach in Hong Kong contributed.