Dow Ends Lower To Record Worst Day In Nearly A Month As US-Iran Jitters Push Oil Prices — TSLA, NVDA, BE, AAPL, WBD In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended 0.3% lower, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%.
• Dow records its worst day since June 10.
• Brent crude futures settled up 5.43% at $78.19 per barrel. 

The S&P 500 and Dow ended lower on Wednesday as oil prices jumped after geopolitical risks resurfaced following U.S. President Trump's comments that the ceasefire with Iran may be over following fresh attacks on shipments in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The S&P 500 ended 0.3% lower, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, dropped 1% for the second straight session.

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell 0.5% and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended Wednesday around 0.1% higher, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) lost 1.2%. 

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) added 1.5%, amid gains in chipmaker stocks including Broadcom (AVGO) and Micron Tech (MU). The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose nearly 2.2%. 

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY, QQQ and DIA was between ‘extremely bullish’ and ‘bullish’ zones with ‘normal’ to ‘high’ message volumes.

US Market Drivers

International Brent crude futures (Co1) settled up 5.43% at $78.19 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures (CL1) popped 4.37% to close at $73.52 after President Trump on Wednesday threatened to attack Iran again, saying that “we’re going to hit them hard tonight.” 

The United States launched a series of powerful retaliatory airstrikes against military infrastructure in southern Iran on Tuesday, in response to Iran’s bombing of three commercial vessels traveling in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said in a post on Truth Social after market close on Wednesday that “it will get much worse” if Iran continues to bomb ships. 

The political turmoil has rekindled inflation fears among investors, raising bets for a rate hike considering elevated oil prices. 

“Markets weren’t initially taking the re-escalation in US-Iran tensions too seriously earlier this week,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com to Bloomberg in an interview. “But today, that seems to have changed.” 

Trending Stocks To Watch 

Tesla (TSLA): The company is working on voice-based improvements to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software following a detailed user suggestion.  

Bloom Energy (BE): Short-seller Hunterbrook Capital published a detailed investigation challenging the company's claims of supply chain independence.

Nvidia (NVDA): Top Wall Street trading desks in JP Morgan, UBS and Goldman Sachs see no panic in AI or chipmaker stocks. 

Apple (AAPL): The iPhone market signed an agreement that includes a $1.5 billion investment to upgrade and expand Broadcom’s (AVGO) manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado as a part of its new chip supply deal with AVGO. 

 Warner Bros Discovery (WBD): The firm unveiled a major restructuring of its advertising technology stack, utilizing autonomous artificial intelligence from Amazon Web Services.

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