US Stock Market Remains Calm Wednesday 03/11 15:26

   The U.S. stock market remained calm Wednesday, even as the price of oil got 
back to rising.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market remained calm Wednesday, even as the 
price of oil got back to rising.

   The S&P 500 edged down 0.1% for a second day of modest moves following what 
had been a wild stretch caused by the war with Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average dropped 289 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

   Since the start of the war, sharp moves for oil prices have triggered swings 
up and down for financial markets worldwide, sometimes by the hour. Oil prices 
briefly spiked to their highest levels since 2022 this week because of the 
possibility that production in the Middle East could be blocked for a long 
time, which in turn raised worries about a surge of debilitating inflation for 
the global economy.

   The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its members will release 
a record amount of oil, 400 million barrels, from stockpiles they've set aside 
for emergencies. Such moves push downward on oil prices in the near term, but 
it will likely require a full resumption of the flow of oil and natural gas 
from the Persian Gulf area to fully ease the market. That has investors 
worldwide anxiously awaiting the end of the war.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4.8% 
to settle at $91.98. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude gained 4.6% to $87.25.

   Worries are centered on the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran's 
coast where a fifth of the world's oil sails on a typical day. The war has 
halted most of that traffic, which means storage tanks for crude in the region 
are filling up because the oil has nowhere else to go. That in turn is pushing 
oil producers to say they're cutting their output.

   The United States said it took out more than a dozen minelaying Iranian 
vessels Tuesday, and the Islamic Republic vowed to block the region's oil 
exports, saying it would not allow "even a single liter" to be shipped to its 
enemies.

   All this is happening at a time when inflation was already relatively high 
in the United States. A report released Wednesday showed that U.S. consumers 
paid prices for groceries, gasoline and other costs of living that were 2.4% 
higher in February than a year earlier.

   To be sure, that inflation rate was the same as the prior month's and better 
than the 2.5% that economists expected, but it remains above the 2% target the 
Federal Reserve has set for the economy. It also doesn't include the spike in 
gasoline prices that's happened this month because of the war.

   "Looking forward, we expect a spring bulge in inflation due to the spike in 
energy prices tied to the Iran war, the duration of which will dictate the 
landing spot for headline inflation by year end," according to Gary 
Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

   High inflation combined with a stagnating economy would create a worst-case 
scenario called "stagflation" that the Federal Reserve has no good tools to 
fix. Stagflation fears are rising not just because of higher oil prices but 
also because of weakness in hiring by U.S. employers.

   On Wall Street, the majority of stocks fell. Campbell's sank 7.1% after the 
soup company reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected. It was hurt by struggles for its snack business, and it cut its 
forecasts for revenue and profit this fiscal year.

   Helping to limit Wall Street's losses was Oracle, which jumped 9.2%. The 
tech giant reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than 
analysts expected. It also raised its forecast for revenue growth next fiscal 
year, in part because of demand for cloud computing for artificial-intelligence 
training and inferencing.

   All told, the S&P 500 fell 5.68 points to 6,775.80. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average dropped 289.24 to 47,417.27, and the Nasdaq composite rose 19.03 to 
22,716.13.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following better 
performances in Asia. Germany's DAX lost 1.4%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 
1.4%.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields rose because of the upward pressure from 
higher oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.22% from 
4.15% late Tuesday, a notable move for the bond market. Higher yields crank up 
the pressure on other investments, pushing downward on their prices.

   Because of the spike for oil prices, traders have pushed back forecasts for 
when the Fed could resume its cuts to interest rates. President Donald Trump 
has been angrily calling for such cuts, which would give the economy and job 
market a boost but also potentially worsen inflation.