Oil prices rise another 3%, while Wall Street drifts in mixed trading
[July 23, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes barely budged on Wednesday after oil
prices climbed another 3% as fighting continues in the war with Iran.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1%, coming off its best day in three weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 6 points, or less than 0.1%, and
the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.
Despite the modest moves for indexes, stocks had some big swings
underneath the surface. Philip Morris International rallied 3.3% after
the seller of Marlboro cigarettes reported stronger profit and revenue
for the latest quarter than expected. Its shipments of smoke-free
products rose 7.5%.
AT&T climbed 3.5% after reporting a stronger profit than analysts
expected. CEO John Stankey also said the telecom is accelerating plans
to send roughly $10 billion to its shareholders this year through the
buybacks of its stock.
Super Micro Computer soared 19.8% after the seller of AI servers said it
expects to report stronger profit margins for the latest quarter than it
had earlier forecast. It, though, also said that revenue will likely
come in at the low end of its forecasted range of $11 billion to $12.5
billion.
On the losing side of the market was GE Vernova, which fell 8.7% after
reporting a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Alphabet sank 1.5% ahead of its earnings report, which arrived after
trading ended for the day.
Anticipation was high, and not just because the parent company of Google
is one of the largest stocks on Wall Street. It’s also one of the
biggest spenders on artificial-intelligence technology.
Investors are looking for signs that the deluge of dollars going into
processors, computer memory and other building blocks of the AI boom are
producing enough profits to make the investments worth it. If Alphabet
and other “hyperscalers” say that isn’t the case, stocks of chip
companies and other AI winners would look very expensive following their
monumental moves higher.
Such worries have kept AI stocks at the center of Wall Street’s swings
for weeks, and they helped drag the market up and down Wednesday.
Micron Technology swung between a loss of 3.6% and a gain of 1.2% before
finishing with a drop of 1.2%. That’s after it jumped 14.4% in the first
two days of this week to reclaim nearly all its 13.3% plunge from the
week before. It’s still up 236% for the year so far.
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 All told, the S&P 500 fell 10.24
points to 7,498.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 6.06 to
52,218.58, and the Nasdaq composite sank 146.30 to 25,690.90.
Stocks broadly also felt pressure from continuing climbs for oil
prices, which raise costs for most businesses and erode their
profits.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international
standard, rose 3.4% to $94.07 and briefly topped $95 in the morning
to touch its highest level in nearly six weeks. That’s up from less
than $72 early this month, which is roughly where it was before the
war with Iran.
Rising oil prices are threatening a reacceleration of inflation.
That in turn could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks
to raise interest rates, which would slow economies and undercut
prices for stocks and other investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.65% from 4.63% late
Tuesday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran began. It’s
already helped bring long-term U.S. mortgage rates to their highest
levels in nearly a year.
Oil prices have climbed as fighting in the Middle East keeps oil
tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz to exit the Persian Gulf.
Normally, a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passes through
the narrow strait.
The auto club AAA said Wednesday that the average price for a gallon
of regular gas in the U.S. jumped again overnight to $4.06. That’s
still below highs of around $4.56 per gallon in May, but it had been
below $3 before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late
February.
In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed in Europe following a mixed
session in Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1% for
two of the world’s bigger moves.
___
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this
report.
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