Oil futures fell early Thursday, while Wall Street rose even as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised questions about reopening the Strait of Hormuz and permanently ending Iran’s war.
US markets rose before the bell and some of the country’s largest technology companies posted first-quarter earnings this week.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.4 percent pre-market, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.6 percent. Nasdaq futures gained 0.5 percent.
Brent crude for delivery in June fell $1.93 overnight to $108.51 a barrel. This figure remains extraordinarily high. Before the war began in late February, Brent crude was trading around $70 a barrel.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil also fell, falling $2.37 per barrel to $104.51 per barrel, but U.S. gasoline prices continue to rise. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline rose another 7 cents overnight to $4.30. The price at this time last year was $3.18.
The United States has continued its blockade of Iranian ports while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, driving up oil prices in recent days. Reports on Thursday suggesting a possible escalation by US President Donald Trump dampened hopes for a quick end to the conflict.
Receive the latest national news
Get the latest Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you don’t miss any breaking news.
“The breakdown of US-Iran talks, coupled with President Trump’s alleged rejection of Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, has the market losing hope for a rapid resumption of oil flows,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note.
Oil prices vary depending on the type of crude oil, where it is traded and under what terms, for futures contracts. By some measures, Brent has hit its highest level since its peak of $147.50 a barrel in 2008 during the global financial crisis.
In stock trading, Alphabet jumped 7.4 percent overnight after Google’s parent company delivered another quarter of stellar growth fueled by its investment in artificial intelligence. Those investments, said CEO Sundar Pichai, “are lighting up every part of the business.”
Alphabet earned $62.6 billion, or $5.11 per share, during the January-March period, an 81 percent increase from the same period last year.
Shares in Facebook owner Meta fell nine percent overnight after it posted better-than-expected results but raised its capital spending forecast. The owner of Instagram and Facebook earned $26.77 billion, or $10.44 per share, in the January-March period, up about 61 percent from $16.64 billion, or $6.43 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Elsewhere in Europe at midday, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent after the Bank of England kept its main interest rate at 3.75 percent on Thursday as policymakers assess the economic impact of Iran’s war and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes. The decision was widely expected and echoes the US Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to keep rates unchanged. It was the same theme in Japan on Tuesday.
France’s CAC 40 lost 1.1 percent and Germany’s DAX was trading 0.2 percent lower.
Asian stocks mostly fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost one percent to 59,284.92 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.4 percent to 6,598.87.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3 percent to 25,776.53, and the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.1 percent higher at 4,112.16. China’s factory activity in April slowed slightly but remained in expansion territory for a second month despite the global energy shock caused by the Iran war, an official survey showed.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2 percent at 8,665.80.
Taiwan’s Taiex lost 1 percent and India’s Sensex lost 0.5 percent.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
