U.S. futures are mixed with the price of Brent crude climbing to more than $105 a barrel as President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase diesel from Russia drew criticism from some lawmakers.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both edged up 0.1% on Monday. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.1%.
Oil prices have continued to yo-yo because of uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.
Trump
announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal to buy Russian diesel with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call, aiming to tamp down a spike in fuel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections.
The president said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Trump said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire ” in the 4 1/2-year-old war. He offered no details on it and Kyiv reported attacks by Moscow on energy sites after his statement.
The plan runs counter to U.S. efforts to cut the flow of money Russia gets from oil and gas sales that can be used to pay for its war against Ukraine. Trump’s announcement came just a few weeks after Congress passed legislation that directed Trump to impose substantial tariffs on the top importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
A bipartisan group of six senators called Sunday for the administration to “immediately reverse course" on the plan.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1% to $105.74 per barrel on Monday. U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 1% to $92.77 per barrel.
This week investors will be keeping an eye on economic data including updates on inflation and retail sales. The biggest U.S. banks, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, will report earnings from the most recent quarter.
Share prices have surged upward, supported by expectations of strong corporate profits, even as Americans say they’re feeling more squeezed by high inflation.
A preliminary report from the University of Michigan on Friday said that U.S. consumers are raising their own forecasts for how bad inflation will be over the coming year. They’re expecting inflation of 4.7%, up from their forecast of 4.6% a month ago and just 3.4% in February before the war with Iran began. Sentiment among consumers is falling sharply for Americans with lower incomes and smaller investments in stocks, who can least afford the fast increases in the cost of living.
The pressure is on companies to deliver strong growth in profits after their stock prices ran toward records despite the downward push from high bond yields.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX added 0.7% to 25,262.94 and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.3% to 7,822.73. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 10,623.84. Asian markets were mostly lower.
Markets in Tokyo were closed for a holiday.
In other dealings, the U.S. dollar climbed to 158.63 Japanese yen from 158.23 yen. The euro was down to $1.1184 from $1.1191.
