A cargo ship anchors near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates at Khor Fakkan on Sunday. Tehran announced it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbors.
Oil prices rose and U.S. stock-index futures slipped on Sunday, after the U.S. and Iran continued their tit-for-tat attacks around the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00) were down about 90 points, or 0.2%, late Sunday. S&P 500 futures (ES00) and Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) also declined. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) traded below $64,000, down about 1%.
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery (CLQ26) (CL.1) jumped more than 3%, trading above $73 a barrel after settling Friday at $71.41 a barrel. Brent crude for August delivery (BRNQ27), (BRN00) the global benchmark, settled Friday at $72.95 a barrel.
On Sunday, the U.S. military struck Iranian targets in multiple waves after a container ship was hit by a suspected Iranian missile in the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reported. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Central Command said it had hit about 140 targets already, largely Iranian missile and drone launch sites, naval targets and communications facilities. Meanwhile, Iran fired missiles and drones at targets in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan, the AP reported, with minimal damage.
Iran, which objects to shipping lanes running through Oman's territorial waters, claimed the Strait of Hormuz is closed to shipping traffic.
The U.S. refuted that claim, with Centcom saying "Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing," in a social-media post Sunday. President Donald Trump has said that the 60-day cease-fire agreement is over, but international mediators are continuing their efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
But investors have largely been unfazed by the uptick in attacks over the past week. The price of Brent crude has fallen from its spring peak above $119 a barrel to a price that is currently "uncomfortable but manageable," Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a weekend note.
"Investors have largely assumed the latest Middle East flare-up will remain contained and shipping disruptions manageable. That assumption has held remarkably well considering recent attacks," he said.
And Wall Street has shifted its focus from oil prices to the artificial-intelligence buildout.
Attention has moved "decisively away from headline geopolitics" and toward the AI-capital cycle, which will likely drive the market for the foreseeable future, Rob Almeida, global investment strategist for MFS Investment Management, told MarketWatch last week.
AI spending and profit forecasts have driven the stock market higher this year, led by semiconductor stocks. AI capital spending will remain the focus as the second-quarter earnings season kicks off in full this week. The big banks will report Tuesday and Wednesday, and Netflix $(NFLX)$ and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing $(TSM)$ will report Thursday. Analysts expect S&P 500 companies overall to grow earnings by 23.6% for the second quarter, according to FactSet. The index has posted double-digit earnings growth for six straight quarters.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on testimony from Kevin Warsh, who will appear before Congress this week for the first time as Fed chair. Members of Congress are expected to question Warsh about his plans to reduce inflation, though he is likely to be circumspect in his answers.
-Mike Murphy
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 12, 2026 18:18 ET (22:18 GMT)
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