| The S&P 500 finished with a dip of 0.3% after coming back from an early loss of 1%. It even briefly turned higher in the last hour of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 203 points (0.4%) and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Stocks tumbled in Europe and Asia when oil prices shot higher early on Thursday but U.S. stocks pared their sharp losses as the day progressed and oil prices fell back.
President Donald Trump and countries around the world have made moves to stem the spike in oil prices. But they’re mostly short-term fixes, and markets want to see less risk for oil and gas fields around the Gulf and a clearance of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will hold off on any further attacks on the Iranian gas field, at Trump’s request. Uncertainty about what will happen in the war has led to manic back-and-forth swings in the oil and stock markets since the war began nearly three weeks ago.
Brent crude briefly surged above $119 per barrel from $70 pre-war levels after Iran's intensified attacks on Persian Gulf oil and gas facilities, retaliating for an Israeli strike on a key Iranian natural gas field. This fueled fears of prolonged Middle East production disruptions, higher global inflation, and sustained high prices.
Brent settled at $108.65 (up 1.2%), then eased, while U.S. crude fell from over $101 to $96.14 toward $94. Skyrocketing prices killed trader bets on Fed rate cuts—now a 73% chance of steady or higher rates in 2026 per CME Group—reversing pre-war expectations amid Powell's discouraging comments.
Gold sank 5.9% to settle at $4,605.70 per ounce. Silver fell even more and dropped 8.2%. Stocks of companies that mine such metals fell to some of Wall Street’s sharpest losses. Newmont slumped 6.9%, and Freeport-McMoRan fell 3.3%. Micron Technology fell 3.8% even though it reported a blowout quarter of much higher profit and revenue than analysts expected. Rivian Automotive rose 3.8% helping in limiting Wall Street’s losses. It announced a partnership where Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in the company and expects to buy 10,000 autonomous robotaxis. Uber Technologies fell 1.7%.
Stock indexes dropped 3.4% in Japan, 2.8% in Germany and 2.7% in South Korea. But oil prices pared their big gains as the day progressed, the latest in their hour-to-hour swings since the war began.
The two-year Treasury yield touched a high point of 3.96% before receding to 3.79%, which is a major move for the bond market. The two-year yield tends to follow expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield held at 4.26% where it was late Wednesday. But it’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran started. Higher Treasury yields have already sent rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans upward and a report on Thursday showed sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly weakened in January. Higher Treasury yields also grind down on prices for all kinds of investments, from stocks to crypto to gold.
|