Stocks hold gains and oil eases as reports on Iran talks stay unconfirmed
Brent slipped to about $108 and the Dow was up about 1%, but a diplomat disputed that a deal is close.
U.S. stocks held gains into the afternoon as oil eased, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 1%, the S&P 500 about 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite about 0.2% at 2:32 PM ET, per Yahoo Finance. Brent crude futures fell to about $108 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate traded near $98, per Yahoo Finance. Our 12:30 PM story has the morning reversal.
The move traces to a report from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing unnamed sources, that Qatar and Pakistan had proposed a compromise to revive U.S.-Iran talks, including the release of $6 billion in interest on frozen Iranian funds, per Investing.com. That report remains unconfirmed. Bloomberg reported that a diplomat involved in the talks disputed that a deal is close, while not denying that talks continue, per Investing.com. FXStreet likewise reported that the Dollar Index dipped on the report and steadied after the diplomat's comment.
Treasury yields eased with oil: the 10-year yield was down nearly 2 basis points at 5.123% in FXStreet's afternoon report. Investors still face earnings after the close from Netflix, SpaceX and United Airlines, and the Federal Reserve meets October 27-28. More on the day's oil move in this morning's story.
