Oil Prices Fall on Developments in Iran War

A small boat moves along the shoreline where an a cargo vessel, tugboat and industrial barge are all anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on June 1. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

NEW YORK — Oil prices are easing on June 4, but slumps for influential artificial-intelligence winners are keeping Wall Street in check.

The decline in oil prices came after Israel and Lebanon said they had agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.

Also, lawmakers in the U.S. House for the first time June 3 approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to try to end the three-month-long conflict that has reordered politics at home and abroad and roiled world markets.

Crude had surged June 3 when both the United States and Iran said they launched retaliations for earlier attacks or attempted ones.

Brent crude traded 2.8% lower June 4 at $95.10 per barrel.

Oil prices remain below their peaks from earlier in the war with Iran, and hope seems to be remaining on Wall Street that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would improve the global flow of crude and hopefully lower its price.

Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the… pic.twitter.com/QfITpX3dbN — Commentary Donald J Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) June 4, 2026

The S&P 500 added 0.3% a day after dropping from its all-time high and coming just short of its longest winning streak in three decades. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 925 points, or 1.8%, as of 12:34 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.

A clear majority of stocks on Wall Street climbed, including 3 out of every 4 in the S&P 500. They got a boost from a 2.8% drop for the price of Brent crude oil to $95.10 per barrel. That gave back a chunk of its rise this week caused by the latest flare-ups of fighting between Iran and the United States and its allies.

Elanco Animal Health rose 2%, and Zoetis, which sells animal vaccines, climbed 3.8% on expectations for stronger profits after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Jun 3 that the New World screwworm fly has reached south Texas. It's the first time in decades that the parasite with flesh-eating larvae has threatened the nation’s cattle industry.

Toro added 2.1% after the seller of mowers and other equipment became the latest U.S. company to deliver better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Richard Olson said Toro saw strong demand across its products, and the company raised its forecasts for revenue and profit over its full fiscal year.

Several other companies also joined the long list of those topping analysts’ profit expectations, but many nevertheless dropped, particularly in the high-flying technology industry.

Broadcom sank 14.7%, even though both profit and revenue for the chip company surpassed analysts’ expectations. CEO Hock Tan said its AI semiconductor revenue more than doubled to $10.8 billion during the quarter and that demand is only getting bigger. He is forecasting AI semiconductor growth to top 200% in the current quarter.

Investors, though, may have been expecting even more after Broadcom’s stock came into the day with a 38.5% surge for the year so far. That towered over the already strong 10.3% rise for the S&P 500 index, and Broadcom has grown to become Wall Street’s sixth-biggest stock and one of its most influential.

Analysts have been saying AI stocks may have run too high, becoming too expensive, and that the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.

Other AI winners likewise gave back some of their big gains. Micron Technology, the latest company to see its total value top $1 trillion because of AI euphoria, fell 6.5%.

CrowdStrike Holdings dropped 6.1% even though the cybersecurity company’s profit and revenue for the latest quarter topped analysts’ expectations. CEO George Kurtz said the latest quarter was when “the worlds of cybersecurity and frontier AI collided,” and the company said it’s splitting its stock to make its share price more affordable.

But its stock came into the day with a 59.5% surge for the year so far. And analysts said it beat forecasts for some financial measures by less than it usually does.

Outside of tech, PVH Corp., the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, tumbled 21.5% even though it also beat Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets. CEO Stefan Larsson warned that it’s feeling “the prolonged effects of the Middle East conflict, which is putting pressure on” customers in the region.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased with oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.46% from 4.49% late June 3. That can lessen the pressure on not only stock prices but also the economy in general.

Easier interest rates can help smaller companies in particular because many need to borrow money to grow. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 1.2%

Reports on the U.S. economy, meanwhile, came in mixed. One said that slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could indicate a slowdown in the relatively solid U.S. job market. Another report said that productivity for U.S. workers improved by less during the first three months of the year than economists expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes ticked higher in Europe following a weaker finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% for some of the larger losses.

Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.