Staff writersUpdated July 28, 2026 — 10:41am,first published July 28, 2026 — 5:17amThe Australian sharemarket slid lower at the open after a mixed session on Wall Street, while oil prices continued to fall after the US and Iran paused their attacks as work resumed on restarting negotiations to end the war.The S&P/ASX 200 was down 22.8 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 8871.2 in early trade, with seven of 11 industry sectors in negative territory. It comes after the ASX jumped by 1.4 per cent on Monday.Wall Street has kicked off its week with a mixed session.APOil extended a steep drop after President Donald Trump said the US and Iran were engaged in talks to end the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate fell below $US82 a barrel in early Asian after closing more than 7 per cent lower overnight. Brent sank by the most in more than three months to close near $US88.Trump said he decided to pause strikes against the Islamic Republic to give negotiations another chance, according to Axios. Still, it remains unclear if any substantial discussions between the two sides were taking place.“I don’t think the Middle East is ‘solved’,” said Scott Shelton, energy specialist at TP ICAP Group. There needs to be “real evidence of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which I think has yet to happen,” he added.Viva Energy jumped more than 3 per cent after announcing a surge in first-half earnings on the back of the conflict in the Middle East. The refiner said it expected first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to jump to between $770 million and $780 million, up from $305 million in the previous corresponding period. Other energy stocks slid lower on the overnight Middle East developments, with Woodside Energy falling 1.1 per cent, Santos losing 0.7 per cent and Ampol dipping by 0.1 per cent in early trade.Mining stocks retreated with iron ore heavyweights sliding as the price of the key steelmaking ingredient slipping overnight. BHP lost 0.3 per cent, Fortescue retreated 0.7 per cent and Rio Tinto fell 1 per cent in early trade. Gold miners also lost ground, with Northern Star giving up 0.5 per cent and Evolution Mining 0.6 per cent lower.Financial stocks were lower across the board with Commonwealth Bank falling 0.6 per cent, while National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Bank per cent each lost 0.6 per cent.Technology stocks were the best performing sector, with WiseTech jumping 3.4 per cent, Xero adding 2.1 per cent and Technology One climbing 2.2 per cent but data centre giant NEXTDC per cent slid 0.6 per cent. Tracking app Life360 surged 6 per cent in early trade.The Australian dollar was 0.1 per cent lower to US69.86¢.Overnight, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent. The index is coming off two weekly losses in a row. The Dow Jones rose 155 points, or 0.3 per cent. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.4 per cent.Technology companies were behind much of the shifts on Wall Street, with gains and declines for a mix of big companies resulting in uncertain trading.Nvidia fell 5 per cent and Micron Technology slumped 2.3 per cent. At the same time, Microsoft rose 1.9 per cent and Apple rose 1.2 per cent. They are all among the most valuable companies in the world and those market values give them more influence over the direction of the broader market.The mix of gains and losses from a variety of those companies had more impact in pushing and pulling the market, even as the majority of companies in the S&P 500 gained ground.Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially mark-moving updates on the economy and company earnings. The big focus will be on the Federal Reserve, which will give an update on Wednesday (US time) on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with the impact from rising inflation because of the ongoing US war with Iran. It also has to contend with a fresh round of US-imposed tariffs globally, which could further worsen inflation.Trump overnight called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, saying the US should have the lowest interest rate in the world.“Rates should be lowered... We have other countries that are paying less interest rates,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.“Kevin is fantastic, but he’s got a board, and the board members are very political,” Trump said, referring to Fed chair Kevin Warsh, adding he knew what Warsh wanted to do.Markets are expecting the central bank to stay on hold, with a 36 per cent chance of a rise.The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it monitors inflation’s direction and impact, but Wall Street expects at least one rate hike by the end of the year.Stubbornly high inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have hit budgets and spending particularly hard. Gasoline costs are taking a bigger chunk out of household budgets, and that could mean tighter spending on other things like clothing and travel.Investors are monitoring the latest round of corporate earnings for signs of consumer stress along with whether the year-long jump in stock values throughout Wall Street is justified by profits and forecasts for profit growth.From our partners