Stocks Drift as Investors Balance Peak Rate Hopes With Oil Price Rise

A man walks past an electric monitor displaying Japan's Nikkei share average and recent movements, outside a bank in Tokyo, Japan, on June 5, 2023. Issei Kato/Reuters

LONDON/HONG KONG—Global stocks held steady on Tuesday, as investors balanced the inflationary force of rising oil prices with hopes that central banks would not over-tighten monetary policy into a potential recession.

MSCI’s broadest index of world stocks, which rose almost 6 percent last month as the U.S. Federal Reserve paused its cycle of aggressive rate hikes, was flat in light trading, with Wall Street closed for the July 4 holiday.