U.S. airline stocks opened higher Tuesday after West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.12% to $82.36 a barrel, down from Monday's $85, on signals that the risk of another Washington-Tehran escalation was easing. The New York Times reported that the State Department is preparing to return Foreign Service officers to eight Middle East embassies evacuated during the war, with some returns possible as early as this week. Alaska Air Group rose 2.48%, United Airlines gained 2.18%, Delta Air Lines added 1.25%, Southwest Airlines climbed 1.20% and American Airlines advanced 1.03%; the US Global Jets ETF rose 1.08%. Falling energy prices also lowered inflation expectations, sending Treasury yields down: the two-year yield eased to 4.208%, the 10-year fell to 4.662% from 4.704% and the 30-year declined to 5.19% from 5.231%. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF gained 0.6%. The move came as U.S. public debt exceeded $40 trillion on Aug. 18 and net interest payments reached $963 billion in the first 10 months of fiscal 2026. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has at least doubled long-dated debt buybacks to $4 billion per operation starting Sept. 9, but analysts said the measure does not resolve the structural borrowing problem. Oil funds and energy shares fell, while the S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 7,684.45.