By Johann M Cherian and Utkarsh Hathi
March 10 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were steady on Tuesday, as investors hoped for a quicker resolution to the Middle East conflict that has led to a spike in energy prices and stoked inflation worries, following President Donald Trump’s comments on the war.
Crude and natural gas prices eased from the worrying $120 per barrel mark after Trump said on Monday that the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran could be nearing an end, sooner than his earlier four-to-five-week timeline.
However, the enthusiasm came with an element of caution as Iran said it would continue its oil blockade through the region, prompting Trump to threaten stronger military retaliation.
Energy producers in the Middle East are yet to resume full-scale production, and shipping costs are likely to be elevated for a while.
“There is still the risk that the conflict and/or disruption to global oil supplies could drag on for longer than President Trump desires as the outcome is not entirely dependent on U.S. military plans,” analysts at MUFG said in a note.
Still, lower energy prices on Tuesday offered some relief to beaten-down travel stocks. Airlines American and Delta gained 1.6% and 0.7%, respectively, in premarket trading, while cruise companies Carnival and Royal Caribbean rose marginally.
Energy companies ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil were down 1.4% and 0.7%, while Occidental fell 3%.
Surging crude prices since the start of the conflict have revived concerns that the U.S. economy could slip into stagflation and complicate the Federal Reserve’s work, as data also suggested the labor market was weakening.
Traders have priced in a potential 25 basis point rate cut around September, according to LSEG-compiled data.
At 07:21 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 26 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 0.75 points, or 0.01%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 12 points, or 0.05%.
Global markets, including equities in Asia and Europe, also rallied, while Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE’s volatility index, dropped 0.87 points to 24.63.
Two inflation reports due later this week will be scrutinized for how inflation fared before the Middle East conflict, though unlikely to reflect the recent surge in energy and shipping costs.
Overall losses on Wall Street, since the start of the war, have been contained, as technology stocks rebounded, making them the best performing sector on the S&P 500 this month with a 1.4% gain.
Chipmakers were higher on Tuesday, with SanDisk and Western Digital up around 1% each.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Investors are keenly awaiting results from enterprise software maker Oracle, expected later in the day, and will scrutinize any signs of debt-fueled AI-spending. Shares of the company were up 1.3%.
Reflecting a broad risk-on mood, crypto stocks such as Strategy added 2.6% and Coinbase climbed 2.5%, tracking a 2.4% rise in bitcoin.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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