Stocks slip as oil prices get back to rising

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are slipping Wednesday as the price of oil gets back to rising.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, coming off a rare day of modest moves following a wild stretch caused by the war with Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 455 points, or 1%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.

Since the start of the war, extreme moves for oil prices have triggered sharp swings up and down for financial markets worldwide, sometimes by the hour. Oil prices briefly spiked to their highest levels since 2022 this week because of the possibility that production in the Middle East could be blocked for a long time, which in turn raised worries about a surge of debilitating inflation for the global economy.

The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its members will release a record amount of oil, 400 million barrels, from stockpiles they’ve set aside for emergencies. Such moves push downward on oil prices in the near term, but it’s likely that only a full resumption of the flow of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf area will fully ease the market. That has investors worldwide anxiously awaiting the end of the war.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4.4% to $91.68. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude gained 5% to $87.58.

Worries are centered on the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s coast where a fifth of the world’s oil sails on a typical day. The war has halted most of that traffic, which means storage tanks for crude in the region are filling up because the oil has nowhere else to go. That in turn is pushing oil producers to say they’re cutting their output.

The United States said it took out more than a dozen minelaying Iranian vessels Tuesday, and the Islamic Republic vowed to block the region’s oil exports, saying it would not allow “even a single liter” to be shipped to its enemies.

All this is happening at a time when inflation was already relatively high in the United States. A report released Wednesday showed that U.S. consumers paid prices for groceries, gasoline and other costs of living that were 2.4% higher in February than a year earlier.

To be sure, that inflation rate was the same as the prior month's and better than the 2.5% that economists expected, but it remains above the 2% target the Federal Reserve has set for the economy. It also doesn’t include the spike in gasoline prices that’s happened this month because of the war.

“Looking forward, we expect a spring bulge in inflation due to the spike in energy prices tied to the Iran war, the duration of which will dictate the landing spot for headline inflation by year end,” according to Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

High inflation combined with a stagnating economy would create a worst-case scenario called “stagflation” that the Federal Reserve has no good tools to fix. Stagflation fears are rising not just because of higher oil prices but also because of weakness in hiring by U.S. employers.

On Wall Street, the majority of stocks fell. Campbell’s sank 7.9% after the soup company reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It was hurt by struggles for its snack business, and it cut its forecasts for revenue and profit this fiscal year.

Helping to limit Wall Street's losses was Oracle, which jumped 9.6%. The tech giant reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also raised its forecast for revenue growth next fiscal year, in part because of demand for cloud computing for artificial-intelligence training and inferencing.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following better performances in Asia. Germany's DAX lost 1.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose because of the upward pressure from higher oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.21% from 4.15% late Tuesday. Higher yields crank up the pressure on other investments, pushing downward on their prices.

Because of the spike for oil prices, traders have pushed back forecasts for when the Fed could resume its cuts to interest rates. President Donald Trump has been angrily calling for such cuts, which would give the economy and job market a boost but also potentially worsen inflation.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Gennaro Saporito works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Federico DeMarco works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Drew Cohen works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), rear center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, rear left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Major storms whipped up tornadoes that killed at least two people in northwest Indiana and leveled buildings in Kankakee, Illinois, authorities said Wednesday, as another round of rain, hail and strong winds made its way through the region.

Several intense supercell thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana on Tuesday, including one supercell responsible for at least four tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service office in Chicago.

“Please do not come here. Do not try to help right now,” Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a video update Tuesday night in front of a destroyed home in the small northwestern Indiana community of Lake Village.

Crews rescued some people who were trapped in their damaged homes, at least 70 utility poles were knocked down and many roads are unpassable, Newton County officials said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

A tornado struck a Lake Village home, killing an elderly couple, Newton County Coroner Scott McCord said in a statement. Their names have not been released.

Fewer than 10 people were hurt in Tuesday's storms, according to Laurie Postma, a spokesperson for the Lake Township Volunteer Fire Department in Lake Village.

Lake Village is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Chicago and 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Kankakee County, Illinois, where at least one tornado struck Tuesday night.

David Ferris, of Lake Village, said he, his wife, and their dogs “rode it out in our downstairs bathtub.” They were unscathed, except for losing power. Ferris, who works as a paramedic in a neighboring county, helped with rescue efforts and treated some who suffered cuts, scrapes and bumps to the head.

“We had another house where a guy crawled out,” Ferris told The Associated Press. “He was having some trouble breathing because he was covered in house insulation.”

Ferris said the local Family Dollar store was destroyed, as well as a gas station across the street. He said multiple large trees were uprooted.

Jennifer Telford, 49, said she hid in her basement in Lake Village, from where she followed news reports of the storm. She didn’t hear the tornado that struck to the south, but said she heard the hail as it pelted her roof.

“The siren in town didn’t go off,” she said. “The sirens outside town did.”

Telford is one of the managers of a truck stop near U.S. 41. She said power at the business was returned Wednesday morning.

“I know the other side of town — everything is closed due to the downed trees and power lines,” she said.

About 4,300 customers in Lake Village and surrounding communities were without power late Wednesday morning, down from more than 11,000 customers at the peak of the storm, the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said on its website.

Survey crews were expected to determine the strength and number of tornadoes on Wednesday​, the weather service said.

In Kankakee, Illinois, the storms also produced exceptionally large hail, ranging from 3 to 5 inches (7.6 to 12.7 centimeters) in diameter. One 6-inch (15.2-centimeter) diameter hailstone may have set a new state record, the weather service said.

Nine people in Kankakee County suffered minor injuries, officials there said at a news conference Wednesday.

Parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio remained under a tornado watch Wednesday morning.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker posted on X that he'd been briefed on the storm and tornado damage.

“Keeping in our thoughts all Illinoisans impacted by the severe weather — we’ll be here to help them recover,” he said.

A tornado touched down near the Kankakee fairgrounds before traveling northeast into the small suburb of Aroma Park, where it caused extensive damage, the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office said.

In video shared on social media, the twister rips across a field near an airport while vehicles line the road.

“I want to remind area residents to check on their neighbors and loved ones but to avoid unnecessary travel, if at all possible,” Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said in a statement.

Associated Press journalists Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this story.

A storm-damaged Tholens' Landscape & Garden center is seen in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A storm-damaged Tholens' Landscape & Garden center is in ruins in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A storm-damaged Tholens' Landscape & Garden center is seen in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A storm-damaged Tholens' Landscape & Garden center is seen in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Utility poles are damaged in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

CORRECTS STATE TO INDIANA - Debris covers vehicles and damged a structure after a severe storm passed the area in in Lake Village, Ind., late Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (WLS-TV via AP)

CORRECTS STATE TO INDIANA - Debris covers vehicles after a severe storm passed the area in in Kankakee County, Illinois., late Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (WLS-TV via AP)