oil Prices are rising on Monday following the recent rise in tensions between the United States and the United States Iranbut the steps are more modest than at the beginning of the war. Meanwhile, US stocks are giving up part of their record-breaking rally.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent from its all-time high and is on track for its second decline in 14 days after the United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that it said was trying to evade the blockade of Iranian ports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 115 points, or 0.2 percent, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7 percent lower.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 5.1 percent to $94.98 on fears that Iran could continue to dump oil in the Persian Gulf if it continues to block tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf Strait of Hormuz.
It’s a turnaround from the last day of trading on Wall Street, when stocks soared and oil prices plunged on Friday after Iran announced it was reopening the strait to trade. That enthusiasm quickly faded after Iran closed the strait again on Saturday following the U.S. decision to continue its blockade of Iranian ports.
The next big deadline looms at 8 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday evening, early Wednesday Tehran time, when a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran is set to expire.
Nevertheless, oil prices remain well below their previous wartime highs. The price of Brent crude oil briefly rose above $119 a barrel when fears were at their highest. And the S&P 500 is still above pre-war levels.
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The muted moves suggest investors still see the possibility of a deal between the U.S. and Iran that could see Middle Eastern oil flowing again to customers around the world. It would be in the economic interests of both countries to end the war.
Companies with high fuel bills suffered some of Wall Street’s larger losses as a result of the rise in crude oil prices, as they had during much of the war.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 5.1 percent and Carnival fell 1.4 percent.
United Airlines fell 2.4 percent and American Airlines fell 5 percent after American said it was not interested in merging with United. Airline stocks rose last week after a report said United was looking to merge with its rival.
On the winning side on Wall Street was TopBuild, a distributor of insulation and building products, which rose 16.4 percent. QXO is buying it in a deal worth around $17 billion.
QXO said the deal would make it the continent’s second-largest listed building products retailer, and its shares fell 8.2 percent.
A big reason the US stock market has been so strong recently is the strong profits US companies have reported for the first three months of 2026, as well as expectations for further growth.
While several of the largest U.S. banks reported higher profits than analysts expected for the latest quarter, they recently said they see the U.S. economy as continuing to be robust, particularly due to solid spending by U.S. consumers.
“Despite geopolitical risks, the earnings recovery remains intact,” said Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson. It has remained so solid that analysts have even raised their profit expectations for spring 2026 since the start of the war.
Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and other major banks, about 10 percent of companies in the S&P 500 have already published their results for early 2026. Nearly nine out of 10 posted higher profits than analysts expected, according to FactSet.
If the remaining companies in the index barely meet analysts’ expectations, total earnings per share for S&P 500 companies will be 13 percent higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.
This is important because stock prices tend to follow corporate earnings trends over the long term. Other major companies scheduled to report results this week include UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.
On stock markets abroad, indices fell in Europe after a better result in Asia. Germany’s DAX lost 1.2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 percent, two of the biggest moves globally.
&Copy 2026 The Canadian Press
