Financial Markets                      07/27 15:28

   

   Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street and oil prices fell after the 
U.S. and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting 
negotiations to end their war. The S&P 500 ended barely changed Monday, up less 
than 0.1%. The index is coming off two straight weekly losses. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%, weighed down by a 
5% drop in AI chip giant Nvidia. After shooting as high as $102 a barrel last 
week, Brent crude fell 6.3% to settle at $85.87 per barrel. Treasury yields 
fell in the bond market.

   THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

   Stocks are drifting on Wall Street Monday and oil prices fell after the U.S. 
and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to 
end the war.

   The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The index is coming off two weekly losses in a row. 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 155 points, or 0.3%, as of 2:25 p.m. 
Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%.

   Oil prices reversed course from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in 
fighting between the U.S. and Iran worsened worries about global oil supplies. 
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 6.6% to $85.63 a 
barrel for October delivery. Prices surged to over $100 a barrel last week 
before easing.

   The war between the U.S. and Iran has sharply curtailed, and at a times 
halted, traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz. That has had a ripple 
effect throughout the world's economy. Gasoline prices have surged and shipping 
costs for most goods are rising, with businesses typically passing those costs 
along to households.

   Markets rose in Europe after closing higher in Asia.

   Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.65% from 4.69% 
late Friday.

   Technology companies were behind much of the shifts in the market, with 
gains and declines for a mix of big companies resulting in uncertain trading.

   Nvidia fell 5.1% and Micron Technology slumped 4%. At the same time, 
Microsoft rose 3% and Apple rose 0.8%. They are all among the most valuable 
companies in the world and those market values give them more influence over 
the direction of the broader market.

   The mix of gains and losses from a variety of those companies had more 
impact in pushing and pulling the market, even as the majority of companies in 
the S&P 500 gained ground.

   In Asia, Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared in its debut in Shanghai. The 
company jumped to become China's most valuable listed company with an estimated 
market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion).

   Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially mark-moving 
updates on the economy and company earnings. Reports are due out on consumer 
confidence Tuesday and inflation on Thursday.

   "This is a week with more than its fair share of potential surprises, good 
and bad," said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at 
E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

   The big focus will be on the Federal Reserve, which will give an update 
Wednesday on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with 
the impact from rising inflation because of the ongoing U.S. war with Iran. It 
also has to contend with a fresh round of U.S.-imposed tariffs globally, which 
could further worsen inflation.

   Wall Street anticipates a nearly 36% chance that the Fed will raise interest 
rates at its meeting this week. Higher rates can help cool inflation by making 
borrowing more expensive and slowing economic growth.

   The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it 
monitors inflation's direction and impact, but Wall Street expects at least one 
rate hike by the end of the year.

   Stubbornly high inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have 
hit budgets and spending particularly hard. Gasoline costs are taking a bigger 
chunk out of household budgets, and that could mean tighter spending on other 
things like clothing and travel.

   Investors are monitoring the latest round of corporate earnings for signs of 
consumer stress along with whether the yearlong jump in stock values throughout 
Wall Street is justified by profits and forecasts for profit growth.

   Investors also have a heavy round of corporate earnings to review this week. 
Many of those reports could provide more clues into the health of different 
areas of the economy. Paint and coatings maker Sherwin-Williams, aircraft maker 
Boeing and payments processor Visa will report their latest results on Tuesday.

   Starbucks and Chipotle will report results on Wednesday.

   Technology companies are being especially watched because their sharp gains 
throughout the year have been behind the Wall Street's record run. Microsoft 
will report results Wednesday. Amazon, with its growing cloud services business 
and AI-focus, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple.

   ___

   AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

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