Oil prices jump as fighting flares in the Middle East, while Asian
shares are mixed
[July 14, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices climbed early Tuesday as fighting intensified
in the Middle East, while Asian shares were mixed as markets in Tokyo
and Seoul rebounded from early losses.
The price of Brent crude climbed more than 2.3% to $85.18 a barrel after
soaring nearly 10% on Monday. U.S. benchmark crude was up 2.5% at $80.15
a barrel.
Oil prices are still below their wartime peak of nearly $120 a barrel,
but uncertainty over the future stability of supplies has deepened as
the U.S. and Iran each assert they control the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. share futures were mixed as the U.S. launched more strikes on Iran
after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a
blockade on Iran in the strait.
Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the waterway to
deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, driving up fuel prices
worldwide.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 67,743.50.
Shares in SoftBank Group, which has huge investments in AI, jumped 2.3%
after its chairman, Masayoshi Son, gave a speech at a company event in
Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in
capacity for AI.
The Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.7% to 6,856.83.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.1% to 3,958.54. The government
reported that China's exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as
adoption of artificial intelligence drove strong demand for computer
chips and other technology.
China is due to report its economic data for the last quarter on
Wednesday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 0.3% to 24,301.71, while in Australia,
the S&P/ASX 200 edged less than 0.1% lower to 8,804.70.
On Wall Street on Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8%, coming off its fourth
winning week in the past five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped
0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.
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Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the
Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 14,
2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 Chip stocks like Micron Technology
helped lead the way lower. Micron fell 4.4%, eating into what had
been a stellar rise of 243.1% for the year so far.
Worries are rising that stock prices have shot too high and that the
demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn’t deliver as much profit
and productivity as expected.
Nvidia fell 3.5%. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by
value thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the single heaviest
weight on the S&P 500.
Attention is turning to profit reports for the spring. On Tuesday
alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and
Wells Fargo all are releasing their latest quarterly results.
Analysts are forecasting that companies in the S&P 500 index will
deliver overall growth of 23.6% from a year earlier, according to
FactSet. If they are right, it would be the second straight quarter
of growth better than 20%.
Companies across industries will need to deliver strong growth to
justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near
records despite their sharp recent swings due to worries around AI
stocks.
More costly oil would push inflation higher, potentially leading the
Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates.
Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the
economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.
In other dealings early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 162.35
Japanese yen from 162.46 yen. The euro rose to $1.1387 from $1.1382.
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