A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, leaped 5% to settle at $77.62 after starting the week below $72. It’s potentially on track for its biggest weekly percentage gain in nearly two years. Oil prices rose after President Biden suggested on Thursday that US and Israeli officials were discussing a possible strike by Israel against Iranian oil facilities. Biden said he wouldn’t support such an attack. Iran is a major producer of oil, and a worry is that a broadening of the fighting could not only choke off Iran’s flows to China but also affect neighboring countries that are integral to the flow of crude. Helping to keep prices in check, though, are signals that supplies of oil remain ample at the moment.
Levi Strauss dropped 7.7% Thursday despite reporting better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The denim company’s revenue fell short of forecasts, and it said it’s considering what to do with its Dockers brand, whose revenue fell 7% last quarter. Nvidia helped cushion the losses, and the 3.3% gain for the chip company was the strongest force pushing up on the S&P 500. After stumbling during the summer on worries that its price shot too high in Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, Nvidia has been climbing back toward its record.
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Stocks Slip as Crude Prices Climb
