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US stocks were steadier Tuesday as investors watched for the next sign on how long the war with Iran may last. Trading came after a period of sharp market swings tied to earlier jumps and pullbacks in oil prices, with Wall Street looking for clarity on whether energy-market disruptions will persist.

The S&P 500 slid 0.2% Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.29 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.16 points, a rise of less than 0.1%. The indexes reflected a pause after Monday’s “extreme moves” in the oil market helped drive volatility across global financial markets.

Oil prices remained well below their recent peaks from Monday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled at $87.80 a barrel—down 11.3% from its prior day settlement—but most of the drop occurred late Monday, before the U.S. stock market closed, limiting the effect on Tuesday’s trading.

Monday’s oil spike unfolded after Trump told CBS News he thinks the war is “very complete, pretty much.” The remarks were followed by expectations that the war could end relatively soon, which would reduce fears that the conflict could block global oil and natural gas flows for an extended period.

Later Monday, after U.S. markets closed, Trump’s comments were described as less clear about timing, and Iran signaled it would determine the war’s end. An Iran Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said in response that “Iran will determine when the war ends,” and the report said Iran launched new attacks Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries.

One reason investors have tracked the war closely is the Strait of Hormuz. The report said the waterway was effectively blocked off Iran’s coast, with about a fifth of the world’s oil sailing through the region on a typical day, and that disruption has been a “central reason for extreme swings” in oil prices.

Trump also said in a late Monday social media posting that if Iran were to stop oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, it would face U.S. retaliation “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” than it had “thus far.” Investors quoted in the report framed the energy outlook as a binary outcome: Hakan Kaya, a senior portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman, said in the report that “Either the Strait of Hormuz reopens and you see a massive unwind of the risk premium,” or it stays shut, with “the largest supply disruption in modern history,” and that there is “no middle ground.”

The report also noted that uncertainty about oil staying high could translate into broader economic strain. It said the market’s concern includes pressure on household budgets already stretched by high inflation and higher fuel and stocking costs for companies, raising the possibility of “stagflation,” where growth stagnates while inflation stays high.

In individual equities, Vertex Pharmaceuticals rose 8.3% after reporting encouraging trends from a trial for a life-threatening form of kidney disease. West Pharmaceutical Services fell 5.7% after Eric Green said he would retire as CEO and chair once the board finds and hires his successor.

Outside the U.S., stock markets in Asia and Europe jumped as traders digested Trump’s late Monday remarks and Monday’s easing in oil prices. The report said indexes rose 5.3% in South Korea, 2.2% in Hong Kong and 1.8% in France, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 2.9% after Japan released revised economic data showing the economy grew faster in the final quarter of last year than initially estimated; in bond markets, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.15% from 4.12% late Monday.