- The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 800 points, the S&P 500 lost about 110 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 464 points at the time of writing.
- As per a report from Bloomberg, the Trump administration has been signaling to allies that it does not have any immediate plans for a ground invasion of Iran, although it has deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East.
- Markets were also weighed down by a dip in technology megacap stocks.
U.S. stocks declined to their lowest levels in about six months amid extreme volatility due to the war in the Middle East, further pressured by a sell-off in megacap tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 800 points, the S&P 500 lost about 110 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 464 points at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, oil prices continued to soar on Friday, with the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures maturing in May up about 6% to trade around $100.40 per barrel at the time of writing. Brent crude futures expiring in June also soared past $114 per barrel.
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's recent announcement about pausing the attacks on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days, markets remained uncertain about the president’s moves.
U.S. Mixed Signals
As per a report from Bloomberg earlier on Friday, which cited people familiar with the matter, the Trump administration has been signaling to allies that it does not have any immediate plans for a ground invasion of Iran, although it has deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East.
However, the report also noted that President Trump could change his mind about the decision or launch an attack at any time. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz has been choked since the start of the war, cutting off global energy supplies and sending oil prices soaring.
Ken Polcari, partner and chief market strategist at Slatestone Wealth in Jupiter, Florida, reportedly told Reuters that the overall tone in the market has turned “very negative and now we have broken down into correction territory."
"In the end, I would view this as a big opportunity, but would not be surprised if we see a drawdown anywhere between 15% to 20% before it is over," Polcari added.
Tech Downturn
Markets were also weighed down by a dip in technology megacap stocks. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) declined about 2% on Friday, while Amazon.com (AMZN) and Meta Platforms Inc. (META) were both down by more than 4% as investors pulled back from high valuation stocks.
Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down about 1.6% at the time of writing, while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 1.81%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was trading 1.6% lower.
The United States Oil Fund ETF (USO) was trading about 6% higher at the time of writing.
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