Oil Prices Swing Amid Ongoing War Uncertainty

U.S. stocks held steady near their records on Tuesday, while oil prices continued to fluctuate due to uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again.

The S&P 500 remained flat and near its all-time high set last Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 101 points or 0.2% as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite down 0.1%

The price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly jumped above $90 in the morning before pulling back toward $87, which is where it was most recently at, down 0.6% from Monday's settlement price.

Higher oil prices make inflation worse, and they've sent the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline to $4.01, up from less than $3.14 a year ago but down from last week's nearly $4.09.