Bangkok– Oil prices rose early Tuesday as fighting intensified in the Middle East, while Asian stocks were mixed as markets in Tokyo and Seoul recovered from early losses.

The price of Brent crude oil rose more than 2.3% to $85.18 a barrel after soaring nearly 10% on Monday. U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 2.5% to $80.15 a barrel.

Oil prices are still below their wartime high of nearly $120 a barrel, but uncertainty about the future stability of supplies has deepened as the United States and Iran assert control of the Strait of Hormuz.

US stock futures were mixed as the US launched more strikes against Iran after US President Donald Trump said Washington was “reestablishing” a blockade against Iran in the strait.

Fighting in the region has prevented oil tankers from using the waterway to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, driving up fuel prices around the world.

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 67,743.50.

Shares of SoftBank Group, which has huge investments in AI, rose 2.3% after its president, Masayoshi Son, gave a speech at a company event in Tokyo where he mocked the idea that there is a bubble in investments in AI capabilities.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7% to 6,856.83.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1% to 3,958.54. The government reported that China’s exports rose 27% in June from a year earlier, as the adoption of artificial intelligence fueled strong demand for computer chips and other technologies.

China is due to report its economic data for the latest quarter on Wednesday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 24,301.71, while in Australia, the S&The P/ASX 200 was down less than 0.1% to 8,804.70.

On Wall Street on Monday, the S&The P 500 fell 0.8%, following its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.

Chip stocks like Micron Technology helped lead the way lower. Micron fell 4.4%, undermining what had been a stellar 243.1% gain so far this year.

Concerns are growing that stock prices have risen too high and that demand may not be sustainable if AI does not generate as much profit and productivity as expected.

Nvidia fell 3.5%. Because it’s the biggest stock on Wall Street by value thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the heaviest weight in the S.&P500.

The focus is on spring earnings reports. On Tuesday alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo will release their latest quarterly results.

Analysts predict that companies in the S.&The P 500 Index will deliver 23.6% overall growth from a year ago, according to FactSet. If they are right, it would be the second consecutive quarter of growth above 20%.

Companies in all sectors will need to generate strong growth to justify the large movements their share prices have experienced. The indices are near records despite their recent wild swings due to concerns surrounding AI stocks.

More expensive oil would raise inflation, which could lead the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates. Higher rates may control inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt the prices of all types of investments.

In other trading early Tuesday, the US dollar fell to 162.35 Japanese yen from 162.46 yen. The euro rose to $1.1387 from $1.1382.