LONDON, May 20: Oil prices eased Tuesday but remained above $100 a barrel while stocks wavered as investors tracked a potential deal between the US and Iran to end a war that has sent energy prices soaring.
President Donald Trump said he held off a major new assault against Tehran as he saw hopes for securing an agreement to end the conflict sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
European stocks rose in afternoon trading but were off earlier highs as Wall Street indexes, which have touched record heights in recent sessions, opened slightly lower in New York.
"Investors are showing relief that tensions haven't escalated," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
U.S. blames Iran for Saudi oil attack, Trump says 'locked and l...
He added, however, that "oil prices remain at high enough levels to weigh on the global economy".
Brent crude, the international benchmark, hovered at around $110 a barrel, down from Monday's prices but still up more than 50 percent since the outbreak of the Middle East war.
Investors are also nervously eyeing rising yields for government bonds in major economies including the US and Japan, indicating that investors are selling amid fears inflation will hinder economic growth.
The divergence between bond investor worries and stock market enthusiasm over strong corporate earnings and the AI-fuelled tech boom is increasingly prompting caution among investors.
Trump said Tuesday that he stopped a purported attack plan at the urging of Gulf Arab allies, while Iran's army warned that it would "open new fronts" against the United States if it resumes attacks.
"The durability of this de-escalation -- and whether it translates into a sustained decline in oil prices -- remains the single most important driver for global bond yields," said Michael Wan of financial group MUFG.
Tech stocks in Asia retreated, tracking a slump on Wall Street ahead of Wednesday's quarterly results from US chip titan Nvidia as investors question whether huge spending on AI data centres is justified by potential returns.
In South Korea, artificial intelligence heavyweight SK hynix slid more than five percent and Samsung Electronics fell by around one percent.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets advanced while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed modestly lower even though Japan reported its gross domestic product expanded 0.5 percent in the first quarter, exceeding market forecasts.
In other corporate news, shares in Standard Chartered slid 1.3 percent as the British bank revealed plans to axe thousands of jobs as it deploys AI to replace employees in a range of administrative roles.
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