The New York Stock Exchange closed in the red on Thursday, weighed down by investor nervousness amid growing uncertainties in the Middle East, while also keeping an eye on corporate results.
Following a double record for the Nasdaq and the broader S&P 500 index the day before, they both fell by 0.89% and 0.41% respectively. The Dow Jones also dropped by 0.36%.
According to Art Hogan from B. Riley Wealth Management, there is currently a “tug-of-war between the fundamentals – results which have been better than expected so far – and the fact that news from the Strait of Hormuz hasn’t improved.”
“The attention to the results seems to have been overshadowed by the rise in energy prices today,” he explained to AFP.
Oil prices continued to rise – Brent crude above $100 per barrel – due to “disappointment over the failure of the Strait of Hormuz reopening, along with tense anticipation for the upcoming negotiations” between Washington and Tehran, as analyzed by Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank.
US President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that he has “all the time in the world” in the Middle East conflict, where the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington for the past two weeks seems tenuous.
Amid reported explosions in Tehran and Israeli Defense Minister expressing readiness for war, security sources clarified to AFP that the army was not attacking Iran.
“Bond interest rates and oil prices remain uncomfortably high,” noted Adam Turnquist from LPL Financial.
The yield on 10-year US government bonds rose to 4.32%, up from 4.30% the day before.
Despite the decline in stock indices, analysts from Briefing.com underscored that a 14.2% increase in the Nasdaq prior to today’s session made it vulnerable to profit-taking.
Investors are also focusing on quarterly performance of companies, with Texas Instruments soaring by over 20% to $282.23 based on better-than-expected first quarter results.
ServiceNow software publisher faced a 17.59% drop despite a 22% rise in first-quarter revenue. Adobe and Oracle also experienced declines.
Tesla, with better-than-expected results, was penalized for its increasing expenditure projections of $25 billion this year. Its stock fell by 3.56% to $373.72.
Weekly jobless claims exceeded expectations slightly, but remained low compared to previous standards, according to Samuel Thombs from Pantheon Macroeconomics.
