World shares retreat and oil prices trade above $100 a barrel
[September 10, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in Europe and Asia were mostly lower Thursday
following a retreat on Wall Street as the price of crude oil again
traded above $100 a barrel.
The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was up 0.4%.
In Germany, the DAX fell 0.2% to 25,535.88. The CAC 40 in Paris edged
0.2% higher, while Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.2% to 10,651.40.
The price of Brent crude jumped 3.4% on Wednesday, surging above $100 a
barrel for the first time since July. It added another 0.3% early
Thursday, to $101.52 a barrel.
U.S. benchmark crude gained 0.4% to $96.42 a barrel.
The latest attacks between the U.S. and Iran are stifling the flow of
oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump said
Wednesday that oil prices likely won’t fall until after U.S. midterm
elections.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 reversed earlier losses, gaining
0.2% to 65,270.95 and the Kospi in South Korea fell 0.3% to 7,033.92.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 24,954.47, while the Shanghai
Composite index gave up 0.4% to 3,934.40.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.2% to 8,819.40.
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and India's Sensex was nearly unchanged.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index fell 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average dropped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite gave up 0.6%. The indexes
are all on track for a weekly loss.
Oil prices drove much of the action on Wall Street. The U.S. destroyed
five Iranian tankers on Tuesday in a series of attacks between the two
nations. The conflict that began in February has essentially shut down
traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil supply
passed before the war began.
Retailers were among the companies that pulled the market lower. Amazon
fell 1.8%, Starbucks lost 1.9% and Home Depot dropped 1%. Every sector
within the benchmark S&P 500 declined except for energy, which rose as
oil companies notched gains. Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Chevron added
1.9%.
The jump in oil prices over the course of the war has pushed prices for
many goods higher. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are up about 32% from a
year ago to $4.22 per gallon. Higher fuel costs cut into household
budgets directly and also indirectly raise prices for goods because of
higher shipping costs.
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A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in
Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 The price of diesel, which can have
an outsized impact on consumers because it is used in shipping and
production, hit an all-time high Friday and has continued to climb
since. The average price for a gallon reached $5.94 overnight and is
now 9 cents higher than it was Friday.
Inflation was already stubbornly high when the U.S. started its war
against Iran because of the U.S. trade war with much of the world.
An update on wholesale prices is due later Thursday with the release
of the Producer Price Index for August. It measures the prices
businesses pay for goods before they reach customers. That report
will be followed up Friday with the release of the Consumer Price
Index, or CPI, for August, which shows the more direct price impact
for households.
The latest reports are expected to show that the rate of inflation
remains above 3%, above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares of Meta Platforms rose 6.6% as the
parent company of Instagram and Facebook launched a personal
artificial intelligence agent, Muse, for people 18 and over who are
looking for help with day-to-day tasks like schedules and shopping.
Rising Treasury yields in the bond market were also weighing down
stocks on Wall Street Wednesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would buy back
up to $6 billion in long-term debt. That follows an announcement in
August previewing plans for an unusually large buyback in an effort
to contain rising yields, which make it more expensive for U.S.
companies to borrow money and also weigh down other investments,
such as stocks.
Bond yields were holding steady prior to the announcement, but
gained ground shortly after.
In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 153.58
Japanese yen from 153.54 yen. The euro rose to $1.1639 from $1.1632.
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