NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks are leading markets higher worldwide as winners of the artificial-intelligence boom gather more strength following several shaky weeks. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% early Wednesday and was on track for a fourth gain in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 57 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6%. The U.S. market got a lift from another report showing that inflation slowed in the United States last month.
That helped take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates. Treasury yields fell in the bond market.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stock indexes were mostly rising in premarket trading on Wall Street Wednesday and oil prices rose modestly after Iran threatened to block Middle East energy exports in retaliation for the U.S. resuming its blockade of Iranian ports.
Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.
Morgan Stanley shares rose 2% in premarket trading after the bank reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the second quarter and profit of $5.6 billion, both records. That follows a slew of strong reports from big U.S. banks on Tuesday, with all of them to some degree crediting their trading desks.
It marks the second straight quarter of robust results from the banks, which have benefited from market volatility since the Iran war began in late February.
Coming later Wednesday is the government's report on wholesale inflation in June.
Stock price gains overall were moderate given worries that the United States and Iran may return to an all-out war. Renewed attacks in the Middle East have raised the risks of further disruptions of transport of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices higher.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the U.S. blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the blockade was resumed as an interim agreement on ending the war unraveled.
“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” said the statement by the Iranian side.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 63 cents to $85.36 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $79.80 a barrel.
“The U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month has proved to be anything but. The two sides are once again exchanging military strikes, and they hold completely different views on the state of affairs in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
“With shipping around the Gulf becoming increasingly fraught with danger, traffic flows are declining once more,” he said.
In early European trading, France's CAC 40 dipped 0.2%, while the German DAX shed 0.8% and Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.2%.
South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia, surging 6.2% to 7,284.41 as prices rebounded from a recent sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 8.8%, while those of Samsung Electronics surged 6.3%.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% to finish at 68,751.51.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,841.10.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 24,681.10, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,955.58 after the Chinese government reported the economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace in April-June, slowing sharply from 5% in the first quarter of the year.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
