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Stocks drift lower, oil prices ease ahead of Iran-US talks

Stocks drifted mostly lower on Wall Street and oil prices slipped Friday ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks following a shaky ceasefire agreement. The S&P 500 inched 0.1% lower after a day of choppy trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. The major indexes each notched a weekly gain for the second week in a row. They have been gaining ground this month amid optimism that the war with Iran could be heading toward a resolution. High-level talks between negotiators from Iran and the U.S. are planned for Saturday in Pakistan. The benchmark ...

Key inflation gauge stays elevated before Iran war

WASHINGTON — A key measure of inflation stayed high in February, before the war in Iran spiked gas prices, a sign that everyday costs were elevated even before the conflict began. An inflation gauge monitored by the Federal Reserve rose 0.4% in February from January, up slightly from the ...

Ticker: Bets on Polymarket draw calls from lawmakers

Calls are increasing inside Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket. This comes after The Associated Press reported that at least 50 new Polymarket accounts placed substantial bets on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire hours before President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire on social media. These accounts had never bet on Polymarket before and this isn’t the first time such well-timed bets have occurred. Researchers at Harvard University estimate that $143 million in profits on Polymarket may have been made by individuals with insider information. Rep. ...

Live Nation antitrust trial nears end

NEW YORK — A lawyer for 34 states suing Live Nation Entertainment tried to convince a jury Thursday during an antitrust trial ‘s closing arguments that the company and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, are monopolizing the industry and driving up concert prices. But a lawyer for Live Nation insisted in Manhattan federal court that there is more competition than ever and the company plays fair amid a booming concert business across America. The attorney, David Marriott, said the states failed to prove that Live Nation had acted as a monopolist. “They can’t, and they didn’t,” ...

Oil plunges, stock futures jump after agreed ceasefire

NEW YORK — Oil prices plunged and U.S. stock futures jumped after President Donald Trump held off on his threat of devastating attacks on Iran. U.S. crude oil futures fell more than 15%. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 2.2% as of 8:05 p.m. ET, while Dow futures rose 930 points or 2%. Late Tuesday, Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets, subject to Tehran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted a two-week ceasefire ...

Stopgap measures can’t halt prices

NEW YORK — Global leaders have been scrambling to contain the rising cost of oil and gasoline since the start of the Iran war, which took a record amount of oil off the market when tankers full of crude were stranded in the Persian Gulf and military strikes damaged refineries, pipelines and export terminals. Hoping to ease some pain for consumers, President Donald Trump and other heads of state have been pulling on various levers, launching more oil on the market in a bid to calm the chaos. A group of 32 nations that are members of the International Energy Agency began releasing the ...