Stocks open lower as crude oil price turn sharply higher

NEW YORK — Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street Thursday but are still holding on to sizable gains for the week.

Traders are turning cautious as oil prices surge again, pushing U.S. benchmark crude up 7% and back above $100 a barrel. That’s a worrisome sign for inflation, which was already a major concern for markets even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago. The S&P 500 lost 0.2% in the early going.

Treasury yields eased back a day after rising sharply as the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2018.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both edged 0.3% lower following another big day of gains in Asia after China promised support for its real estate and internet industries.

All major U.S. indexes rose Wednesday after the Fed raised its short-term lending rate by 0.25 percentage points, a widely anticipated move but less than the 0.5 percentage point hike advocated by some officials.

“Far from choking off growth, the start of the Fed tightening cycle seems to have been greeted warmly,” Chris Turner and Francesco Pesole of ING said in a report. “Investors are cheering measures to address high inflation.”

In midday trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.1%, the DAX in Frankfurt sank 0.6% and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2%.

The Bank of England was expected to raise its key interest rate Thursday for the third time since December as it pushes ahead faster than other central banks in combating a global wave of inflation fueled by soaring energy prices.

On Wednesday, the Dow added 1.4%, the S&P 500 rose 2.2% and the Nasdaq composite gained 3.8% for its biggest daily gain in 16 months.