BOSTON/LONDON, March 13 (Reuters): Global stocks were mixed and oil prices stayed elevated as uncertainty over the Iran war continues to disrupt energy supplies, driving concerns over fuel inflation and interest rates.
The price of oil hovered around $100 per barrel even as an Indian tanker sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and the US put forth measures to try and ease supply concerns. Oil prices remain more than a third higher than when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran almost two weeks ago.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 was little changed, and the Nasdaq Composite dipped about 0.1%.
"It could simply be the case we've had two if not three days of pretty aggressive selling across the board, and there's simply a degree of exhaustion coming in," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
"Crude benchmark is a touch softer, and ?everything on the whole is still taking its lead from where oil is trading," he said.
Europe's STOXX 600 dropped 0.13%, with the index on track for a more than 5% fall in March so far, its biggest two-week decline in a year. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.3%.
Meanwhile, the dollar has become the safe-haven of choice during the tumult, putting most other currencies under pressure. The US currency was set for a second consecutive week of gains, up 0.5% on the day against a basket of other currencies.
In currencies, the euro fell 0.45% to $1.145, on course for a weekly decline of more than 1%. The yen hit ?its weakest level since July 2024 at 159.69 per US dollar on Friday as Japan warned that it was ready to take action to protect against yen declines. It was last at 159.39.
Two-year Treasury yields, which typically move in step with Fed interest rate expectations, hit a six-month high on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.3% in January on a monthly basis, in line with economists' estimates.
At the same time, US economic growth slowed more sharply than initially thought in the fourth quarter amid downward revisions to consumer spending and business investment, government data showed on Friday.
