Wall Street points lower and oil prices remain above US$100 with Iran a dominant force in markets

Trader Patrick Casey works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Wall Street leaned toward losses early Tuesday and oil prices remained above US$100 per barrel as uncertainty about a resolution in the Iran war continues to be the biggest drag on markets.

Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent. Nasdaq futures slid 0.6 per cent before the opening bell.

Benchmark U.S. crude lost 41 cents to US$103.97 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dipped 95 cents to US$111.15 a barrel.

• S&P 500 market updates here

Oil prices have gyrated wildly, but largely remained above US$100 with the unofficial U.S. driving season beginning Monday. Prices rocketed higher after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed by bordering Iran, preventing oil tankers from delivering crude. Japan, for instance, imports just about all its oil, much of it previously through the strait.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline rose again overnight to US$4.53, according to the AAA motor club, or about 43 per cent more than it cost last year at this time.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil was about US$70 before the war. It fell after U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he was holding off on a military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday because “serious negotiations” are underway to end the war.

Outside of the conflict in the Middle East, investors are awaiting Nvidia’s first quarter results, due Wednesday. The chip company has routinely blown past analyst expectations each quarter while forecasting more growth. Nvidia shares fell modestly in premarket trading, as did most other chip stocks.

Home Depot shares barely budged after the home improvement retailer’s most recent results beat Wall Street forecasts even as profit fell from a year ago.

Target and Walmart will report their first-quarter results this week as well.

France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.8 per cent at midday, while the German DAX gained 1.4 per cent and Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 per cent.

• Dow Jones updates here

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4 per cent to finish at 60,550.59, erasing initial gains after the government reported that the economy grew for the second straight quarter in January-March, mainly due to better than expected consumer spending.

South Korea’s Kospi sank more than four per cent in early trading and closed 3.3 per cent lower at 7,271.66. Shares in Hyundai Motor Co. sank 8.9 per cent, LG Electronics dropped 11.7 per cent, Samsung Electronics slipped 2.0% and SK Hynix fell 5.2 per cent, tracking losses in tech shares overnight on Wall Street.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.2 per cent to 8,604.70. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.5 per cent to 25,797.85, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.9 per cent to 4,169.54.

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Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press