By Donato Paolo Mancini 

Global stocks mostly edged down on Tuesday, as oil prices jumped after a surprise move from the U.S. to curb Iranian oil imports and investors awaited a fresh batch of earnings for clues on the health of the world economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.2% in midmorning trade, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed flat and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.2%. U.S. futures pointed to flat opens for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.7% to $74.53 a barrel, reaching a high for the year-to-date. Its U.S. counterpart, West Texas Intermediate, rose 0.8% to $66.07 a barrel.

Oil markets were jolted by a U.S. move to ban countries from importing Iranian oil, with waivers granted to countries including China, India and Turkey slated to end May 2. The tightened restrictions could remove over 1 million barrels of Iranian supplies from the market a day, significantly pushing up prices.

"Oil prices keep benefiting from the decision of the U.S. administration to end sanction waivers on Iran oil imports," said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst with UBS in Switzerland. "Amid seasonally higher oil demand into the summer, the oil market is likely to be very sensitive to any further disruptions in Libya, Venezuela or Nigeria."

Still, ramped-up production from other producers could soften the blow. Prices are likely to be capped in the medium-term, said Esty Dwek, a Geneva-based senior investment strategist with Natixis Investment Managers. Softer global demand and increased output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia could mitigate further price rises, she said, adding that expensive oil could also work to undermine the dovish positions of many central banks.

"Central banks tend to look at core inflation, but if you look at general inflation you see energy there," Ms. Dwek said. "We've seen quite a rise since the start of the year to oil prices, which means inflation expectations are going to come up in the short term because oil prices have moved up."

Rising crude boosted share prices for companies in the oil sector, with the related subsectors gaining the most among Stoxx Europe 600 equities. Banks shed the most.

Investors globally will also be paying close attention to earnings reports this week from companies including Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.com.

Health-care stocks have suffered the most recently on the possibility of structural changes to the U.S. health insurance system. Novartis, a Swiss drugmaker with significant exposure to the U.S., reports results Wednesday.

U.S. economic data, including first-quarter GDP, is expected later in the week.

Elsewhere, U.K. investors remained focused on Brexit, with little more than a month left before European Parliament elections take place. If the U.K finds a way to leave the bloc before then, it won't be required to hold the vote. The British pound gained 0.1% against the dollar at $1.2987.

The Swiss franc shed 0.3% against the dollar, while the Argentine peso dropped more than 2%. The WSJ dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of 16 other currencies, was broadly flat.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields on Tuesday ticked down to 2.582%, from 2.592% on Monday afternoon. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Gold slid 0.2% to $1,275.30 an ounce.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 23, 2019 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.