Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Stock futures traded near the flatline Tuesday night ahead of key consumer inflation data.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 16 points. S&P 500 futures added 0.01%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.04%.
Investors are awaiting February's consumer price index due Wednesday, seeking clues on the strength of the U.S. market and economy, particularly after signs of a weakening labor market have grown in recent months. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate that headline CPI rose 2.4% on a year-over-year basis.
In regular trading, both the S&P 500 and 30-stock Dow closed lower, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.01% on the day. Nine of the eleven S&P 500 sectors ended the session in negative territory, while communication services and technology posted narrow gains.
"I think we're in a period where we had a bear market already in software, the Mag Seven, and in crypto. I think that's already taken out a lot of speculation," Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said Tuesday afternoon on CNBC's "Closing Bell."
Oil prices have taken dramatic swings week to date, surging to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday amid rising fears around the war in Iran. Prices slid on Tuesday, first on hopes that a group of nations would turn to emergency crude reserves.
Energy prices dropped once more on Tuesday after Energy Secretary Chris Wright wrote in a since-deleted social media post that the U.S. Navy successfully escorted tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said that the U.S. had not escorted a tanker through the key route.
West Texas Intermediate futures fell as low as $76.73 per barrel, but closed down nearly 12% at $83.45 per barrel. Brent crude lost more than 11% to settle at $87.80 a barrel.
"To me, the market is actually handling oil prices better ... we think higher oil prices are actually good for the U.S. stock market," Lee added, noting that the S&P 500 has climbed this week even as oil prices have surged.
The broad market index is up 0.6% week to date, as fears about the Iran war have slightly eased, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signaled that the conflict could end soon.
U.S. oil futures pop in extended trading
West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped more than 4% on Tuesday night, jumping to $87.20 a barrel after trading reopened at 6 p.m. ET.
The futures contract for April delivery was last up more than 5% at $88.20 a barrel.
WTI Crude futures in the past day
U.S. oil futures ended the day down by nearly 12% in regular trading, settling at $83.45 a barrel.
It was a hectic session for energy prices, which tumbled on Tuesday even after Energy Secretary wrongly claimed that the U.S. Navy escorted a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later told reporters, "The U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time."
Amazon wins court order to block Perplexity’s AI shopping agent
Amazon won a temporary injunction against Perplexity to block its Comet AI browser from scraping its website.
Amazon sued Perplexity in November, alleging the startup took steps to "conceal" its AI agents so they could continue to scrape the online retailer's website without its approval. Perplexity called the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, a "bully tactic."
Perplexity's Comet allows shoppers to ask the assistant to find items on Amazon and make purchases.
Amazon stock performance over the past year.
Amazon has broadly locked down its shopping sites from AI agents, blocking dozens of agents, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, while investing in its homegrown tools like Rufus, a shopping assistant featured on its website and app.
Shares of Amazon are down about 7.1% year to date.
