Wall Street was mixed in muted trading Friday and oil prices swung between small gains and losses after a series of mysterious, unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran. The attacks came after the U.S. said it finished its offensive and raised questions of who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.
Futures for the S&P 500 ticked down 0.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%. Futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.4%.
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attacks across the southern part of Iran come as they and the U.S. insist the Strait of Hormuz must be open and free to ships to transit. Iran insists the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas passes, must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.
Oil prices yo-yoed again on Friday as global oil supplies remained under pressure due to a limited numbers of vessels able to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 78 cents to $77.08 per barrel. It was trading near $72 a barrel before the war began in late February.
Benchmark U.S. crude added 65 cents to $72.73 a barrel.
Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.
The International Energy Agency on Friday released its monthly report projecting that 2026 will end with a 1 million barrel-a-day decline in demand, the first annual drop in demand since the COVID pandemic six years ago.
In equities trading, Delta Air Lines fell 1.6%, even after it beat second-quarter profit targets as revenue jumped 14%. The airline said it spent more on fuel than in any quarter in its history.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were all basically unchanged.
In Asian trading, South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.5% to 7,475.94, recovering some of its losses from earlier in the week. Shares in memory chipmaker SK Hynix, whose debut on the Nasdaq in New York is set for Friday, fell 0.3% in Seoul.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% to 68,557.73. SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, jumped 10.7%, while chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron added 2.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.6% to 24,175.12 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 1% to 3,996.16.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 8,806.00.
India’s Sensex added 1.2%.
