Oil prices held steady on Wednesday after pushing higher the day before and U.S. stock markets looked set to open stronger as investors tried to make sense of President Trump’s decision to extend the cease-fire with Iran amid doubts about the status of another round of peace talks.
An adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the influential speaker of the Iranian Parliament, dismissed the cease-fire announcement, saying that it had “no meaning.” He equated the U.S. naval blockade with bombings. Commercial vessels reported coming under attack near the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices level out.
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The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, traded at about $99 a barrel, up 0.8 percent from Tuesday’s settlement price.
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West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was around $90 a barrel, up 0.8 percent.
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Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas that normally carries as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Stock futures point up.
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Futures on the S&P 500 rose more than 0.6 percent, pointing to a strong open when stocks resume trading in the United States on Wednesday.
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Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas, were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell more than 1 percent, while Taiwan’s Sensex index moved about 1 percent higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index rose slightly.
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In Europe, the Stoxx 600, a broad index that tracks the region’s largest companies, edged up slightly, while the DAX in Germany and the FTSE 100 in Britain were flat.
Gasoline prices hold steady.
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Gas prices held firm on Wednesday at a national average of $4.02 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. That is down from a recent high of $4.17 earlier in April. The increase has raised the cost for drivers by 35 percent since the war began.
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Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.
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Diesel prices fell to $5.49 on Wednesday, up 46 percent since the start of the war.
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