Asian Markets Mixed, Oil Prices Hold Steady Amid US-Iran Tensions
Asian markets were mixed on Monday, with shares in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumping 1.4% to 26,135.47, while markets in mainland China and Japan were closed for “Golden Week” holidays. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 8,704.70, and strong buying of tech stocks pushed shares in South Korea sharply higher, as the Kospi gained 3.8%. Taiwan’s Taiex surged 4.2%.
Oil prices held steady, with the price of a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude falling 21 cents to $101.74 a barrel, and Brent crude edging 5 cents higher to $108.19 a barrel. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the “Project Freedom” initiative, which aims to help ships leave the Strait of Hormuz, starting on Monday. However, Iran has rejected the plan, and the outcome of the situation remains uncertain.
The U.S. Central Command said the initiative would involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, and 15,000 service members, but the Pentagon did not immediately answer questions about how they would be deployed. The oil market “remains the fulcrum, with hundreds of tankers, bulk carriers, and cargo ships still stranded across the Gulf, idling as storage constraints force producers to shut… production simply because there is nowhere left to store it,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
US Stocks Reach New Records
On Friday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to another all-time high of 7,230.12, closing out a fifth straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3% to 49,499.27, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to a record close of 25,114.44. Apple led the way, delivering better profit than expected, and its rally of 3.3% was by far the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.
U.S. companies have been exceeding expectations for earnings in the first three months of 2026, with 84% of the companies in the S&P 500 that have reported already topping analysts’ estimates, according to FactSet. The index is on track to deliver roughly 15% growth in profit from a year earlier.
Currency and Commodity Prices
In other dealings early Monday, the dollar rose to 157.18 Japanese yen from 156.80 yen, and the euro fell to $1.1724 from $1.1746. The price of Brent crude was selling for a little more than $70 per barrel before the war began, and soaring prices helped the two biggest U.S. oil companies report stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
However, stock prices fell for both Exxon Mobil, 1%, and Chevron, 1.4%, as oil prices regressed Friday and each reported drops in net income from a year earlier. The main uncertainty for the global economy is where oil prices are heading due to the Iran war, and the situation remains closely watched by investors and analysts.
