Wall Street is modestly lower in premarket trading and oil prices settled despite lingering uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to the global flow of oil again. Futures for the S&P 500 ticked up 0.1% before the opening bell Tuesday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged down 0.1%. Nasdaq futures rose 0.3%.

Oil Price Fluctuations

Oil prices were on their way up again before suddenly reversing course early Tuesday. After being up about 2.5% early, Brent crude oil was down a few pennies at $87.61 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude ticked up a couple cents to $82.19 a barrel.

A day earlier, oil jumped more than 5% after U.S. President Donald Trump scoffed at demands from Iran that the U.S. pay for devastation caused by five months of war as one condition for reopening the strait.

Shares of major U.S. oil companies — including Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — were close to unchanged early Tuesday after jumping 4.5% on Monday.

Inflation Concerns

Higher oil prices have meant elevated prices for gas, which trickles down to consumers on a number of levels. In addition to prices at the pump — which remain above $4 a gallon on average in the U.S. — companies have to pay more for fuel to produce and transport goods. Those higher costs usually get passed onto consumers.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up overnight to $4.01, according to motor club AAA.

Accordingly, the main event for Wall Street this week will be Wednesday’s update on U.S. inflation in July. Economists expect it slowed to 3.4% from 3.5% in June, and that would relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, particularly after a very weak U.S. jobs reading on Friday.

Original reporting: WTVQ (Lexington) — read the source article.