Stocks Fall for a Second Day, but Close Off Session Lows as Oil Rally Cools
U.S. equities pared losses on Thursday while oil prices pulled back, as Wall Street continued to monitor developments in the Iran war. Major indexes ended lower for a second straight session, but recovered meaningfully from their intraday lows as the surge in crude eased.
The S&P 500 fell 0.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite also slipped 0.28%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 203.2 points, or 0.44%. Earlier in the session, the selloff was sharper: the Dow was down nearly 500 points (about 1.1%), while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had fallen roughly 1% and 1.4%, respectively.
Oil prices retreated as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the media, saying Israel was helping the U.S. “in intel and other means” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu also said Iran had lost the ability to enrich uranium and make ballistic missiles, adding that the war could end sooner than many people expect.
WTI crude futures traded around $94 per barrel after sliding about 2%. Brent futures, the international benchmark, were down nearly 1% at roughly $106 per barrel.
Earlier, international oil prices had spiked after Iran struck a key LNG export facility in Qatar on Wednesday, in retaliation for Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field—events that amplified supply disruption fears and weighed on equities before crude pulled back.
Source : Newsmaker.id
