Stan ChoeUpdated July 14, 2026 — 10:37am,first published July 14, 2026 — 5:21amThe Australian sharemarket clawed back an early spate of losses on Tuesday, finishing the day completely flat as continued uncertainty about the United States and Iran’s battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz worried global markets.Unusually, the S&P/ASX 200 closed exactly flat, making no overall gains or losses, ending the day precisely where it started at 8808.5 points. Seven of 11 industry sectors posted gains. The market fell as much as 43 points, or 0.5 per cent, around midday but recovered all of those losses as the afternoon wore on, thanks to a continued rally in energy stocks.Unusually, the S&P/ASX 200 closed exactly flat, making no overall gains or losses.APThis was fuelled by a continued appreciation in oil prices, which climbed 10 per cent overnight and continued to rise throughout the day after US President Donald Trump said he would reinstate a blockade to prevent tankers carrying Iranian oil from using the strait.He also called for 20 per cent payments on all cargo shipped through it to reimburse the United States for providing protection in the area. Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the strait to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, which drives up fuel prices worldwide.The developments cemented energy stocks as one of the day’s biggest winners, with Woodside Energy adding 3.3 per cent and Santos rising 1.2 per cent. The refiners also jumped, with Ampol up 2.4 per cent and Viva Energy 1.9 per cent higher.Mining stocks were mixed, with BHP rising 0.87 per cent and Fortescue up 1.07 per cent, but Rio Tinto dipped 0.4 per cent. Gold stocks lost ground early as the price of the precious metal fell below $US4000 an ounce on the back of remarks by Fed governor Christopher Waller that policymakers may need to raise rates in the near term to combat inflation. However, the precious metal’s price rebounded later in the day, easing Northern Star’s fall to just 0.2 per cent and helping Evolution Mining to a 3.1 per cent gain.Financial stocks lost ground, with ANZ down 1.4 per cent, National Australia Bank shedding 1.2 per cent, and Westpac and Commonwealth Bank each falling 0.9 per cent.Technology stocks are mixed after a weak showing yesterday, with WiseTech jumping 4 per cent and Xero up 1.2 per cent, while Technology One fell 1.6 per cent and NEXTDC lost 3.6 per cent.The Australian dollar was trading at US69.3¢.On Wall Street the S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent, coming off its fourth winning week in the past five. The Dow Jones dropped 138 points, or 0.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6 per cent.Chip stocks like Micron Technology helped lead the way lower. Micron fell 4.4 per cent, eating into what had been a stellar rise of 243.1 per cent for the year so far.Real profits are behind the rise because the AI rush has created surging demand for computer memory and other computing building blocks. But worries are rising that stock prices have shot too high and that the demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn’t deliver as much profit and productivity as expected.Nvidia fell 3.5 per cent. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by value, thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.The day’s losses began in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 8.9 per cent. That included a 15.4 per cent plunge for SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul, the worst since it began trading in 1997.The South Korean tech giant just launched shares of its stock trading in the United States on Friday, raising roughly $US26.5 billion ($38.3 billion). Those shares jumped 13.1 per cent in their first day of trading but they fell 9.3 per cent Monday.Elsewhere, a group of 12 states sued Paramount Skydance, seeking to block its $US110 billion bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, alleging the blockbuster Hollywood deal would leave viewers with higher prices and fewer choices for movies and television.The antitrust lawsuit, filed in California federal court, alleges the deal would harm competition for film distribution and the licensing of cable TV channels. California and 11 other states with Democratic attorneys-general joined the challenge, creating the largest legal hurdle to the deal after the Trump administration cleared the transaction without conditions in June.“After this merger, for every dollar generated by wide-release theatrical films and basic cable channels in this country, the combined company will pocket more than a quarter,” the states alleged in the complaint. “This merger, in short, would create a media behemoth.”Much of Wall Street’s attention this week will be on profit reports from companies saying how much they earned during the spring. On Tuesday alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are all releasing their latest quarterly results.In the bond market Treasury yields rose with the price of oil. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.61 per cent from 4.56 per cent late Friday, and from just 3.97 per cent before the war with Iran began.Yields have risen worldwide on worries about expensive oil and high inflation, which could push 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.In sharemarkets abroad, indexes moved modestly in Europe.From our partners