On oil, Reuters reported that Brent futures rose $3.52, or 3.4%, to settle at $106.60 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate rose $2.45, or 2.7%, to settle at $94.61, with both contracts up about 5% at their session highs . Prices climbed to a one-week high after a Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia revived fears of supply disruptions, but trade was volatile and prices came off session highs after reports the US and Iran discussed reopening the Strait of Hormuz. A separate account records that the surge was triggered by renewed supply-disruption fears after Saudi Arabia intercepted six Houthi ballistic missiles targeting areas that included the Yanbu Red Sea export hub .

On US equities, CNBC reported the closing levels: the Dow slid 161.61 points, or 0.31%, to 51,349.98; the S&P 500 inched down 0.02% to close at 7,704.13; and the Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.01% gain to settle at 26,939.37 .

On Australian equities, the ABC's live blog recorded that the ASX 200 ended the day down 0.72% at 8,702 points, with the All Ordinaries down 0.66% at 8,897 . Dow Jones Newswires gave the same figure and its context: the S&P/ASX 200 fell 63.30 points, or 0.72%, to close at 8,702, after the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow had fallen 0.8%, 1.1% and 0.7% respectively overnight on Wall Street , and noted that during that Australian session Brent crude futures were trading around $102 per barrel as negotiations stalled between the US and Iran . Capital Brief attributed the local decline to sectors rather than oil: the index fell 0.72% to 8,702 with five of the 11 sectoral indices in the red, led lower by real estate and by lithium miners including Liontown, PLS and Vulcan Energy . The ABC added that the metals sector weighed on the index as copper fell from near-record highs, with 148 of the top 200 stocks down .

On the Hormuz context, Reuters reported that US and Iranian negotiators in New York are exploring a phased path out of war that would involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade, with the strait having become the central bargaining chip in efforts to end the nearly seven-month conflict . The House of Commons Library records the underlying state: one Iranian counter action was closing the Strait of Hormuz, and while a conditional ceasefire is in place, shipping levels through the strait remain very low .

On the post's secondary data points, MGM is corroborated: Barry Diller withdrew his $18 billion-plus takeover offer for MGM Resorts, and MGM shares fell more than 10% on the news , with a separate report putting the premarket drop at 11% following People Inc.'s retraction of a $48.30 per share takeover proposal . On Meta, the reported driver was a software agent rather than a device: Meta stock soared as its new "Muse" artificial intelligence agent began gaining momentum , and the Muse AI agent surged to the top spot on Apple's App Store . On gold, Kitco's page carried the headline "Gold price dips to $4,268/oz" dated Sep 24, while also showing that as of September 24, 2026, 5:46 p.m. ET, the gold price is $4,273.20 per troy ounce .