Dow jumps 200 points, continuing comeback from Iran war lows, as oil prices decline: Live updates

Stocks rose on Tuesday in choppy trading, building on the comeback from the previous session, as oil prices pulled back and traders kept an eye on the Iran war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 277 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7%. The Dow had lost as much as 296.57 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, at their lows.

Oil prices, which had been on a tear of late, fell sharply as traders believed a group of countries would tap emergency crude reserves to mitigate disruption caused by the conflict. West Texas Intermediate futures were last down 10% to trade at around $84 a barrel. Brent crude shed 10% to roughly $88 a barrel.

The International Energy Agency said it would meet later on Tuesday to discuss a release of oil stockpiles. The members will “assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks […] available to the market,” IEA chief Fatih Birol said in a statement.

That comes after Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — talked on Tuesday about releasing of strategic oil reserves, though they did not make a decision on the matter.

Wall Street is coming off a wild session in which the Dow erased a more than 800-point deficit as crude prices eased. The turnaround was fueled by President Donald Trump on Monday hinting that the conflict could end soon. He later said, “We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective.”

To be sure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that “today will be our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.” He also said that Iran is “badly losing.”

With oil remaining at the forefront, Mike Sanders of Madison Investments anticipates that prices dropping to the low $70s and $60s range won’t be a big deal for the economy.

“If we stay elevated — which there should probably be a little bit more of a premium in the market, given all the uncertainty that we have — I do think it’s going to matter,” the portfolio manager and head of fixed income said. “It’s going to take a while to work its way through.”

Paul Gooden, head of global natural resources at Ninety One, said in a Tuesday note that oil prices could spike above $120 a barrel if the disruption to the market is extended.

“Oil prices could spike further until higher prices begin to curb demand,” he said. “At that point, consumers and businesses change behavior: driving less, flying less, or shifting to alternative energy sources. That process of “demand destruction” has historically acted as a natural ceiling for sustained price spikes.”