Financial Markets                      05/18 09:36

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices eased Monday after a scare overnight where 
prices popped and then moderated. That helped steady stock markets worldwide as 
trading headed from Asia through Europe to Wall Street.

   The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% in early trading, after European stocks 
reversed losses and most Asian markets finished lower. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average was down 64 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the 
Nasdaq composite was up 0.1% and remained near its all-time high set last week 
like the S&P 500.

   The center of the action recently has been the world's bond markets, where 
climbing yields have cranked up the pressure on economies and stock markets 
worldwide. Higher yields make it more expensive for households and businesses 
to borrow, which U.S. homebuyers are all too familiar with because of higher 
mortgage rates.

   Higher interest rates could also make it more difficult for companies to 
borrow to build huge data centers for artificial-intelligence technology, which 
has been driving much of the U.S. economy's growth.

   Yields have been climbing for several reasons, and at the top of them have 
been oil prices. The war with Iran has trapped many oil tankers in the Persian 
Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide, which in turn has 
driven up crude's price.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, got 
as high as $112 overnight after President Donald Trump told Iran on his 
social-media platform Sunday that "the Clock is Ticking, and they better get 
moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them."

   But prices eased later in the morning, continuing their yo-yo ways since the 
war began, with hopes still remaining that the two sides can reach a deal to 
get oil flowing again. The price for a barrel of Brent crude fell back to 
$107.84, down 1.3% from Friday. That's still well above its roughly $70 price 
from before the war.

   That drop in oil prices helped buoy stock markets that hadn't finished 
trading yet, and France's CAC 40 index went from a loss of 1.2% to a gain of 
0.3%. By that point, Japan's Nikkei 225 had already finished 1% lower, with 
Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 1.1%.

   On Wall Street, Dominion Energy pushed upward on the U.S. stock market after 
NextEra Energy agreed to buy it in an all-stock deal to create the world's 
largest regulated electric utility by market value. Dominion rallied 10.5%, and 
NextEra fell 4.4%.

   Boston Scientific climbed 2% after saying it would spend $2 billion on its 
previously announced stock buyback program of $5 billion by the end of June. 
Such purchases send cash directly to investors and boost the company's 
per-share earnings.

   Delta Air Lines rose 2.1%, aided by lower oil prices and news that Berkshire 
Hathaway bought more than $2.6 billion of the airline's stock. Berkshire 
Hathaway built a reputation as a value investor able to buy stocks at low 
prices under its former leader, Warren Buffett.

   This upcoming week will offer little in terms of data on the U.S. economy, 
but a heavily anticipated report on Nvidia's latest quarterly results will 
arrive Wednesday. The chip company has routinely blown past analysts' 
expectations each quarter, while forecasting even bigger growth than Wall 
Street had thought. It will likely need to keep up such momentum to keep AI 
stocks driving the market to more records.

   Target, Home Depot and Walmart will all also report their latest quarterly 
results this week.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.58% 
from 4.59% late Friday and from 4.63% overnight when oil prices were at their 
heights.

   The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond rallied toward its highest 
level since the late 1990s.

   Yields worldwide have been climbing on fears about higher inflation caused 
by higher oil prices, which in turn could push central banks not only to 
abandon the thought of cutting interest rates but also consider hiking rates. 
Higher rates would slow inflation but at the cost of hurting the economy and 
dragging on prices for stocks and other investments.

   Several solid reports on the U.S. economy recently, along with worries about 
the U.S. government's huge and growing debt problem, are also pushing upward on 
yields.

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   AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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