Financial Markets                      03/24 09:33

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- With airstrikes still battering Iran and missiles still 
targeting sites across the Middle East, some of the optimism that sent stocks 
rallying the day before drained out of Wall Street on Tuesday. Oil prices got 
back to rising, and U.S. stocks are returning some of their gains.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 3.5% to $103.42, a day after 
slumping more than 10%. The main measure of the U.S. stock market, the S&P 500, 
fell 0.4% to give back more than a third of its climb from the day before.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 351 points, or 0.8%, as of 9:35 
a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.

   The optimism at the week's start came after President Donald Trump raised 
hopes that the war could end soon when he said the United States and Iran held 
productive talks "regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities 
in the Middle East." His statement on social media caused stocks to flip 
immediately from losses to gains.

   It calmed worries that the war may cause a long-term disruption to the oil 
and natural gas industry in the Persian Gulf, one big enough to send a blast of 
inflation to the region's customers worldwide.

   But Iran has denied such talks are underway, and attacks continued on 
Tuesday. Iran remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under 
the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, 
including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

   The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 4.6% to $92.17, 
clawing back some of its 10.3% plunge from the day before.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields also returned to rising and upped the 
pressure on financial markets worldwide. Higher yields make mortgages and other 
kinds of borrowing more expensive for households and for businesses, which 
slows the economy. They also push downward on prices for all kinds of 
investments, from stocks to gold to cryptocurrencies.

   High Treasury yields and disruption in the bond market were factors that 
Trump named a year ago when he backed off his initial threats for global 
tariffs made on "Liberation Day." The moves caused critics to allege that Trump 
always chickens out, or "TACO," if financial markets show enough pain.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40% from 4.34% late Monday and 
from just 3.97% before the war.

   The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations 
for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, rose to 
3.90% from 3.83% late Monday.

   The Fed came into this year with expectations of resuming its cuts to 
interest rates, which would give the economy a boost. But oil prices have 
jumped so much and the threat of high inflation is so large that traders have 
nearly erased their bets for a cut to rates this year. Instead, some are even 
betting on the possibility that the Fed may have to hike rates by December, 
according to data from CME Group. That's a scenario that was nearly unthinkable 
before the war began.

   Higher interest rates would slow the economy, but they would also help keep 
a lid on inflation.

   On Wall Street, companies with big fuel bill fell after the price of oil 
resumed its climb. United Airlines lost 2.7%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holding 
fell 2.8%.

   Estee Lauder dropped 5.6% after it confirmed it's in merger talks with 
Spanish cosmetics company Puig. The potential deal could put such brands as 
MAC, Clinique, Charlotte Tilbury and Apivita together under one company. Estee 
Lauder said no final decision has been made yet.

   The market's losses would have been even worse Tuesday if not for Smithfield 
Foods. Its stock rose 4.7% after the meat company reported stronger profit and 
revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe. Asian stocks rose in their 
first chance to trade following Trump's statement about talks with Iran. Hong 
Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.8%, and South Korea's Kospi climbed 2.7% for two of 
the world's larger moves.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

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