NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is remaining relatively calm on Wednesday, even as the price of oil continues to swing.
The S&P 500 edged down 0.1% and could be headed for another day of relatively modest moves following a wild stretch caused by the war with Iran’s effects on oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 339 points, or 0.7%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.
Since the start of the war, sharp moves for oil prices have cascaded through financial markets worldwide and caused big swings up and down, sometimes by the hour. Oil prices briefly spiked to their highest levels since 2022 this week because of the possibility that production in the Middle East could be blocked for a long time, which in turn raised worries about a surge of debilitating inflation for the global economy.
The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its members will release 400 million barrels of oil from stockpiles they’ve set aside for emergencies. Such moves push downward on oil prices in the near term, but it’s likely that only a full resumption of the flow of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf area would fully ease the market. That has investors worldwide anxiously awaiting the end of the war.
