Stocks were mixed after strong rallies the day before.
The preliminary agreement may not have an immediate effect on prices at the pump. Damaged infrastructure and risky transport could keep costs up.
The short-term truce hasn’t been made public, and the long-term peace deal it is supposed to yield doesn’t exist yet, so there is much still unknown about any agreement between the adversaries.
While the president says the agreement with Iran would open the Strait of Hormuz and provide economic relief, the country’s nuclear program is still a subject for negotiation.
The pace of the recovery will depend on how confident companies are that the deal between the United States and Iran will hold and be extended.
The amount of oil and fuel stored by businesses and governments has fallen sharply since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Analysts saw little prospect of either President Trump or Tehran backing down after days of exchanging fire.
A U.S. military official said the president’s seemingly dramatic announcement on Wednesday referred to a previously reported effort to shepherd commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks, which strained a two-month cease-fire between Iran and the United States, were the latest jolt to energy markets.
As the Iran war drags on, Oman — a U.S. ally and mediator with Iran — has found itself at odds with the Trump administration and some of its own neighbors.