Major US equity benchmarks declined on Thursday as crude prices advanced on intensifying Middle East conflict.
At 10:04 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 218.84 points, or 0.45%, to 46,017.96, the S&P 500 lost 32.62 points, or 0.49%, to 6,592.08 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 148.57 points, or 0.67%, to 22,004.27.
At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 90.3 points, or 0.20%, to 46,134.87. The S&P 500 fell 41.6 points, or 0.63%, to 6,583.12, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 281.4 points, or 1.27%, to 21,871.037.
The small-caps Russell 2000 index tumbled 10% from its all-time intraday high.
The surging energy costs have revived inflation worries that have prompted the US Federal Reserve to take a cautious stance on interest rate cuts.
The European Central Bank raised its inflation forecast while voting to keep interest rates unchanged.
The Bank of England and Bank of Japan also kept rates steady, following the Federal Reserve action on Wednesday.
“The shift in rate-cut expectations has been a major buzzkill for the stock market, which is also sobering up at the sight of rising Treasury yields,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare according to AFP.
Oil prices shot up again on Thursday, briefly touching $119 a barrel, after Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas hubs around the Persian Gulf in response to an Israeli attack on an important Iranian natural gas field.
Brent crude, the international standard, briefly rose above $119 per barrel in the morning before pulling back to $110.80, which is still a 3.2% rise from the previous close. A barrel of benchmark US crude added 0.7% to $96.09.
Key Stock Movers
Rivian stock jumped 7.5% after Uber announced its investment plans of up to $1.25 billion in the company to purchase 10,000 “fully autonomous” robotaxis with an option for 40,000 more. Uber stock rose 0.9%.
Micron stock fell 7.3% despite reporting quarterly records for revenues and other key financial benchmarks.
