Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
new york stock exchange
What you need to know today
Oil prices rose slightly after plunging more than 11% on Tuesday as traders expected countries to draw on emergency oil reserves to ease disruption from Middle East wars. The plunge came despite aggressive rhetoric from US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about attacks on Iran, with Hegseth saying Tuesday “will be the day of the most intense attacks.”
U.S. crude oil and Brent crude fell more than 17% after U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright falsely claimed on Tuesday that the U.S. Navy had escorted a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, before paring some losses. The post has since been deleted and confirmed to be false by White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was last up 0.35% at $83.76 per barrel, while Brent crude oil was flat at $87.8 per barrel.
U.S. stocks ended the day mixed as traders weighed falling oil prices against the risk of further price increases. A CBS News report indicating that Iran may be moving to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz also soured sentiment.
Later, U.S. Central Command announced on Tuesday that the U.S. military had sunk several Iranian vessels, including 16 minelayers, near the strait, after President Donald Trump said that if Iran had planted mines in the strait, “we want them removed immediately!”
Although the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed to most of the world’s oil supplies, Iran has sent at least 11.7 million barrels of oil to China through the waterway since the war began, according to Tanker Trackers. Maritime intelligence data provider Kpler estimates that about 12 million barrels of oil have passed through the Strait since the start of the war.
On the artificial intelligence front, Oracle reported a profit beat and issued strong guidance, pushing its stock up as much as 10% in after-hours trading. Investors seemed reassured by the software company’s full support amid concerns about the company’s massive debt to fund AI development.
And finally…
How the Iran war and rising energy prices threaten semiconductor demand
Analysts warned that a prolonged conflict in the Middle East could affect the semiconductor industry’s access to key materials and that rising costs could hurt demand for chips that have been at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom.
Semiconductor stocks were caught up in the decline seen in the stock market until President Donald Trump said on Monday that the war would be over “soon.”
Memory chip makers SK Hynix and Samsung have been particularly hard hit, with more than $200 billion collectively wiped out since the war began, even though their stock prices soared on Tuesday.
— Arjun Karpal
