NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is holding steadier Tuesday as Wall Street waits for the next signal on when the war with Iran may end.

The S&P 500 added 0.4%, a day after its latest wild swings caused by extreme moves in the oil market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 313 points, or 0.7%, as of 1:43 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

Oil prices, meanwhile, continued to fall further below where they were late Monday. Spikes there have been rocking financial markets worldwide because of worries that the war could block the global flow of oil and natural gas for a long time.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was sitting at $82.90. That’s down 16.2% from its settlement price the day before, though much of that decline happened before the U.S. stock market finished trading on Monday. That's why the drop did not give much of a boost to U.S. stocks Tuesday.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude was also shifting lower from where it was late Monday, at $80.34.

Oil prices plunged Monday afternoon from a high of nearly $120 per barrel, its most expensive level since 2022, after President Donald Trump told CBS News he thinks “the war is very complete, pretty much.” That raised hopes that the war may end sooner than later, which could allow oil to flow freely again from the Middle East to customers around the world.

But Trump’s comments later Monday, after the U.S. stock market finished trading, were not as clear. And a spokesperson for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said that “Iran will determine when the war ends.” Iran launched new attacks Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries, keeping pressure on the Middle East in a war started by Israel and the United States.

That has Wall Street waiting for the next clue about how long the war may last.

One point where Trump remained clear was his desire to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. The war has effectively blocked much of the waterway off Iran’s coast, where a fifth of the world’s oil sails on a typical day. That's been a central reason for oil prices' extreme swings recently, which have dominated other financial markets and raised worries about the global economy.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump said in a posting on his social media network late Monday.

Source: WPLG