US: Stocks climb as oil prices retreat

WALL Street advanced on Tuesday as tech shares gained and oil prices fell, while investors assessed unrest in the Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 42,080.37, while the broad-based S&P 500 added 1.0 per cent to 5,751.13.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.5 per cent to 18,182.92.

“Technology is up, and that’s helping the sentiment of the market,” said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

Among individual companies, Nvidia shares were up 4.1 per cent while Facebook parent Meta Platforms increased 1.4 per cent and Microsoft rose 1.3 per cent.

Cardillo added that a pullback in oil prices was another positive for the market.

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“Oil prices were moving up on anticipation of a retaliation move by Iran. And so far, that hasn’t happened,” he said.

Brent, the international benchmark, and US contract West Texas Intermediate both slipped by 4.6 per cent.

This likely reflected a shift in focus, back on demand.

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In an interview published on Tuesday, New York Federal Reserve president John Williams also told the Financial Times that the central bank’s bold interest rate cut in September is not necessarily an indication of how it will act in the coming months. AFP