World shares mostly gain and oil prices slip as the US raises pressure
on Iran
[August 25, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Tuesday in Europe and Asia
after U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish ahead of potentially
market-moving events later in the week.
Oil prices fell back after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
announced fresh sanctions against Iran and warned that countries
persisting in doing business with the Islamic Republic would face
retaliation.
Germany's DAX gained 0.5% to 26,240.76 and the CAC 40 in Paris added
0.3% to 8,480.52. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher, to 10,869.93.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average rose 0.2%.
During Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% to 65,856.43.
Shares in technology investor SoftBank Group climbed 2.3%.
The Kospi in South Korea reversed early losses, gaining 0.7% to 6,742.74
as traders resumed buying tech shares, snapping up bargains.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 25,511.10, while the
Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.2% to 3,889.44.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 9,164.60.
Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.9%, while the Sensex in India lost 0.2%.
On Monday, areas of the bond market that the U.S. Treasury Department
has been trying to calm eased a bit, relieving pressure on stocks.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Dow industrials added 0.3%. The
Nasdaq composite fell 0.8%.
Tech stocks led the decline. They've had big swings recently due to
worries that the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has
sent prices too high and huge demand for AI chips will falter if AI
doesn't yield enough profits.
Chip giant Nvidia, a tremendous winner of the AI boom, lost 2.9% on
Monday. It will deliver its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday and
that could dictate the next big move for AI-related stocks. Micron
Technology lost 5.8% and Broadcom fell 2.6%.
In the bond market, the yield of the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.69%
from 4.74% late Friday, returning to where it was last week before the
U.S. Treasury Department announced a surprise move to increase the size
of its planned buybacks of Treasurys.
Longer-term Treasury yields climbed through the summer on worries about
high inflation, huge government debts and other factors. High yields
make it more expensive for everyone to borrow, not just the government,
and already have pushed up mortgage rates and hurt the housing industry.
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A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite
Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of
the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 25,
2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 “The latest discussion about using
Treasury General Account cash to help finance purchases of
longer-dated bonds gave the market something to chew on Monday, and
it initially liked the taste. Long yields fell, and the curve
flattened,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a
commentary.
“But there is a difference between forcing the bond market to blink
for an afternoon and solving the underlying problem,” he said.
The Federal Reserve's new chairman, Kevin Warsh, is set to deliver a
speech Friday at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole,
Wyoming, the backdrop for past policy announcements.
Analysts say Warsh is likely to talk about inflation and how the Fed
plans to deal with it.
Oil prices are a major factor behind higher costs and Brent crude,
the international standard, has been trading above the $72 per
barrel level it was at before the war with Iran began in late
February.
Early Tuesday, Brent crude fell 2% to $88.74 per barrel. U.S.
benchmark crude oil shed 2.2% to $83.14 per barrel.
Last month, Brent zigzagged between $72 and $102 as hopes rose and
fell that the United States and Iran could reach a deal that would
allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. The new
U.S. sanctions announced Monday helped drag the value of Iran's
currency, the rial, to a record low against the U.S. dollar.
In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.30 Japanese yen from
159.10 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1670, up from $1.1667.
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