The closing bell rang on Wall Street with a screen that, taken in isolation, would have looked almost peaceful. The S&P 500 was down 0.29%, the Dow finished higher by 0.3%, the Nasdaq slipped 0.76%. A tame Monday, the kind you skim past on the way to Nvidia earnings later in the week.
Now zoom out. Brent crude settled at $112.10 a barrel, up more than 2% on the session, holding near the multi-year highs the contract reached earlier this month. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield punched through 4.60% intraday, its highest level in nearly a year. The 30-year was holding above 5.1%. The Strait of Hormuz, which has remained effectively shut since the U.S.–Iran war went hot at the end of February, is now well into its third month of disruption. President Trump postponed a planned Tuesday strike on Iran at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE — meaning the people closest to the powder keg are still actively trying to stop someone from lighting it.
And the S&P 500 lost 23 points.
