Stocks waver on Wall Street and crude oil prices drop 5% as Mideast tensions cool

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks wavered on Wall Street Monday and oil prices fell after the U.S. and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to end the war.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The index is coming off two weekly losses in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:37 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.

Oil prices reversed course from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in fighting between the U.S. and Iran worsened worries about global oil supplies. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 5.5% to $86.60 a barrel for October delivery. Prices surged to over $100 a barrel last week before easing.

The war between the U.S. and Iran has sharply curtailed, and at a times halted, traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz. That has had a ripple effect throughout the world’s economy. Gasoline prices have surged and shipping costs for most goods are rising, with businesses typically passing those costs along to households.

Markets rose in Europe after closing higher in Asia.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.65% from 4.69% late Friday.

Technology companies were behind much of the shifts in the market, with gains and declines for a mix of big companies resulting in uncertain trading.

Nvidia fell 3.9% and Micron Technology slumped 6.2%. At the same time, Microsoft rose 2.3% and Apple rose 1.3%. They are all among the most valuable companies in the world and those market values give them more influence over the direction of the broader market.

The mix of gains and losses from a variety of those companies had more impact in pushing and pulling the market even as the majority of companies in the S&P 500 gained ground.

In Asia, Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared in its debut in Shanghai. The company jumped to become China’s most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion).

Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially mark-moving updates on the economy and company earnings. Reports are due out on consumer confidence Tuesday and on inflation on Thursday.

The big focus will be on the Federal Reserve, which will give an update Wednesday on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with the impact from rising inflation because of the ongoing U.S. war with Iran. It also has to contend with a fresh round of U.S.-imposed tariffs globally, which could further worsen inflation.

Wall Street anticipates a nearly 38% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates at its meeting this week. Higher rates can help cool inflation by making borrowing more expensive and slowing economic growth.

The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it monitors inflation’s direction and impact, but Wall Street expects at least one rate hike by the end of the year.

Stubbornly high inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have hit budgets and spending particularly hard. Gasoline costs are taking a bigger chunk out of household budgets, and that could mean tighter spending on less essential items and activities, like clothing and travel.

Investors are monitoring the latest round of corporate earnings for signs of consumer stress along with whether the yearlong jump in stock values throughout Wall Street is justified by profits and forecasts for profit growth.

Investors also have a heavy round of corporate earnings to review this week. Many of those reports could provide more clues into the health of different areas of the economy. Paint and coatings maker Sherwin-Williams, aircraft maker Boeing and payments processor Visa will report their latest results on Tuesday.

Starbucks and Chipotle will report results on Wednesday.

Technology companies are being especially watched because their sharp gains throughout the year have been behind the Wall Street's record run. Microsoft will report results Wednesday. Amazon, with its growing cloud services business and AI-focus, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

FILE - A train arrives at a Wall Street subway station in New York's Financial District on Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A dealer walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The screens show the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The screens show the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer Carly Simon has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and was recently treated for skin cancer, the singer shared in a statement provided to The Associated Press.

“So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing. The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease,” Simon's statement on Monday read.

The singer, 83, had been experiencing arthritis in one of her hips and both her knees, resulting in replacement surgeries for those three joints. But her mobility continued to decline. At times, she said, she could not walk without “considerable help.”

“My family and I knew that something more was going on. After an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s,” she said.

“It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly,” she explained. “Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”

Parkinson’s is a neurologic disease that robs people of control over their movements. It typically starts with tremors and is characterized by slow movement, a shuffling gait, stiff limbs, balance problems and slurred speech.

About 1 million Americans are living with Parkinson’s, and 10 million people worldwide, the Parkinson’s Foundation estimates. It usually appears after age 60, though it sometimes develops before age 50.

The exact cause isn’t known, but Parkinson’s develops when cells that produce one of the brain’s chemical messengers — dopamine — begin to deteriorate and die.

There is no cure, but there are treatments including medications that affect dopamine levels and a surgically implanted tremor-blocking device. Patients also can benefit from physical and occupational therapy.

“I began treatment, including taking medication to help with stiffness and other symptoms,” Simon said. “There is no tidy or predictable schedule to the illness. It does not consult my calendar before deciding what kind of day I am going to have.”

She also shared that she was treated for basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer, on her face at the same time. She had surgery, and the cancer was removed, “but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public,” she said.

She said music has been a salve, and on Aug. 14, she will release “Comes in Waves,” her first album of original songs since 2008.

“Working on the music gave shape to days that did not always have much shape. It gave me somewhere to go without having to leave the room,” she continued. “It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life.”

FILE - Carly Simon performs during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in New York on April 19, 2017. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)