Major indexes tumbled as crude topped $90 on U.S.-Iran escalation.
The Nasdaq plunged 361.31 points (1.6%) to 22,387.68, the S&P 500 tumbled 90.69 points (1.3%) to 6,740.02 and the Dow slumped 453.19 points (1%) to 47,501.55.
Wall Street faced a sell-off amid surging crude oil prices, with U.S. futures topping $90 a barrel. The spike stemmed from the escalating U.S.-Iran conflict spreading across the Middle East, raising fears of a global energy crisis as the seventh day brought intensified Israeli airstrikes and U.S. warnings of dramatic attack surges.
President Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Truth Social, vowing U.S. involvement in selecting its future leaders to rebuild it stronger. A Labor Department report fueled negativity, showing a 92,000 job slump in Februarymissing expectations of a 60,000 gainwhile unemployment edged up to 4.4%.
Semiconductor stocks moved sharply lower dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 3.9% to its lowest closing level in almost two months. Transportation stocks were substantially weak, as reflected by the 3.5% plunge by the Dow Jones Transportation average. Steel, networking, financial and housing stocks also witnessed significant weakness while oil producer stocks were among the few groups to buck the downtrend amid the spike by the price of crude oil.
Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid by 1%. Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.2%, the German DAX Index declined by 0.9% and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.7%.
In the bond market, treasuries saw considerable volatility over the course of the session before closing modestly higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.3 bps to 4.13%.
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