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Oil Prices Continue Slide as Trump Threatens Major Drillers
Brent Crude Falls 3.4% to $74.21 a Barrel
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Key Takeaways:
- Oil prices are down, nearing their price before the Iran war began in late February.
- President Donald Trump on social media said the Justice Department will investigate oil companies for price gouging.
- This week's market sell-offs have largely targeted companies that have seen their values surge amid the AI frenzy.
NEW YORK — Stocks edged higher on Wall Street on June 24 as falling bond yields and lower oil prices helped ease pressure on the market.
Oil prices continued slipping as the U.S. and Iran negotiate a possible end to their war. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.4% to $74.21 a barrel. It has been trading below $80 in recent days but is still above the approximately $70 per barrel it was trading at in late February before the war began. U.S. crude prices fell 4.4% to $69.96 a barrel.
Early June 24, President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will investigate oil companies for price gouging.
Trump said on social media that gasoline prices are not matching the decline in oil prices, so he has told the Justice Department “to immediately start looking into this.”
Crude oil prices have eased with the interim deal with Iran, which has enabled more oil tankers to start passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Prices at the pump are averaging $3.93 a gallon, according to AAA. Gasoline costs have fallen over the past month, just not as much as Trump would like.
“In other words, customers are being ‘gouged,’ ” Trump posted. “I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
The S&P 500 rose 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 100 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
Technology stocks were mixed after two days of losses that heavily weighed on the broader market. That also helped ease pressure on the broader market, allowing the broad gains throughout the S&P 500 to push the index higher.
Nvidia fell 0.1% following a 4.1% dip on June 23. Micron Technology, which reports its latest financial results later June 24, fell 0.4% following its 13.2% plunge on June 23.
Google's parent company Alphabet rose 1% after it was announced that it would replace Verizon in the Dow on June 22. Alphabet will become the fifth Magnificent 7 company to join the index. The other companies are Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia.
Big Tech companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence technology, have pricey values that give them more sway over the market's broader direction. That was the case on June 23 when sharp losses for a few valuable tech companies pulled the market lower.
READ MORE: Diesel Prices Fall Below $5 a Gallon
Treasury yields mostly fell, removing more pressure from stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.50% late June 23. The yield on the 2-year Treasury fell to 4.15% from 4.16%.
Gold prices fell 2.6%, and at one point slipped below $4,000 an ounce. Prices were above $5,000 an ounce earlier in the year. The precious metal is often a barometer of the appetite for risk among investors, with more buying at times of increased anxiety and more selling as anxiety eases.
Markets were mixed in Europe and Asia.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
