Soaring oil prices ease and markets rise

[AP Photo]

Oil futures fell yesterday while Wall Street rose even as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war.

U.S. markets ticked higher before the bell with some of the country’s biggest technology companies posting first quarter earns this week.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%.

Brent crude to be delivered in June slid $1.93 overnight to $108.51 per barrel. That remains extraordinarily high. Before the war began in late February, Brent crude was trading around $70 per barrel.

Benchmark U.S. crude also slid, falling $2.37 per barrel to $104.51 per barrel, but U.S. gasoline prices continue to tick higher. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped another 7 cents overnight to $4.30. The price at this point last year was $3.18.

The U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, pushing oil prices higher in recent days.

Reports yesterday suggesting a possible escalation by U.S. President Donald Trump doused hopes for a quick end to the conflict.

“The breakdown of talks between the U.S. and Iran, along with President Trump reportedly rejecting Iran’s proposal for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, has the market losing hope for any quick resumption in oil flows,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note.

Oil prices vary depending on the type of crude oil, where it is being traded and under what terms, for futures contracts. By some measures, Brent has hit its highest level since its peak of $147.50 per barrel in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

In equities trading, Alphabet jumped 7.4% overnight after Google’s parent company delivered another quarter of stellar growth driven by its investment in artificial intelligence. Those investments, CEO Sundar Pichai said, “are lighting up every part of the business.”

Alphabet earned $62.6 billion, or $5.11 per share, during the January-March period, an 81% increase from the same time last year.

Shares of Facebook owner Meta tumbled 9% overnight after it posted better-than-expected results but raised its forecast for capital expenditures. The owner of Instagram and Facebook earned $26.77 billion, or $10.44 per share, in the January-March period, up about 61% from $16.64 billion, or $6.43 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Elsewhere, Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold at 3.75% yesterday as policymakers assess the economic impact of the Iran war and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude passes. The decision was widely expected and echoes the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday to keep rates unchanged.

Asian stocks mostly fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 1% to 59,284.92 and the Kospi in South Korea fell 1.4% to 6,598.87.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3% to 25,776.53, and the Shanghai Composite index closed 0.1% higher at 4,112.16. China’s factory activity for April slowed slightly but remained in expansion territory for the second month, despite the global energy shock prompted by the Iran war, an official survey showed.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2% at 8,665.80.

Taiwan’s Taiex was 1% lower and while India’s Sensex lost 0.5%. CHAN HO-HIM & MATT OTT, Business Writers, MDT/AP