By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT, AP Business Writers<\/p>\n
Stock indexes were mostly rising in premarket trading on Wall Street Wednesday and oil prices rose modestly after Iran threatened<\/a> to block Middle East energy exports in retaliation for the U.S. resuming its blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.<\/p>\n Morgan Stanley shares rose 2% in premarket trading after the bank reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the second quarter and profit of $5.6 billion, both records. That follows a slew of strong reports<\/a> from big U.S. banks on Tuesday, with all of them to some degree crediting their trading desks.<\/p>\n It marks the second straight quarter<\/a> of robust results from the banks, which have benefited from market volatility since the Iran war began in late February.<\/p>\n Stock price gains overall were moderate given worries that the United States and Iran may return to an all-out war.<\/a> Renewed attacks in the Middle East have raised the risks of further disruptions of transport of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices higher.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the U.S. blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> announced Monday that the blockade was resumed as an interim agreement on ending the war unraveled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,\u201d said the statement by the Iranian side.<\/p>\n Brent crude, the international standard, rose 63 cents to $85.36 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $79.80 a barrel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month has proved to be anything but. The two sides are once again exchanging military strikes, and they hold completely different views on the state of affairs in the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.<\/p>\n \u201cWith shipping around the Gulf becoming increasingly fraught with danger, traffic flows are declining once more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In early European trading, France\u2019s CAC 40 dipped 0.2%, while the German DAX shed 0.8% and Britain\u2019s FTSE 100 declined 0.2%.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s Kospi led gains in Asia, surging 6.2% to 7,284.41 as prices rebounded from a recent sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 8.8%, while those of Samsung Electronics surged 6.3%.<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% to finish at 68,751.51.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,841.10.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 24,681.10, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,955.58 after the Chinese government reported the economy expanded<\/a> at a 4.3% annualized pace in April-June, slowing sharply from 5% in the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n