US Stocks Mixed Ahead of Trump's Deadline

The Dow Jones Index dropped -85 points or 0.18 percent on Tuesday to close at 46585 points. Losses were led by Walmart (-3.52%), Nike (-3.04%) and Home Depot (-2.63%). Offsetting the fall, top gainers were UnitedHealth (9.30%), Chevron (1.27%) and JPMorgan (0.62%).

The Dow shed 0.1%, while the S&P 500 added 0.2%, and the Nasdaq edged 0.1% higher on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz fueled risk aversion. Equities retreated after the president warned that a whole civilization could die tonight while the US conducted overnight military strikes on Kharg Island. These developments initially bolstered WTI crude, while tech shares faced mixed results. Broadcom surged 6.3% on expanded artificial intelligence deals with Google, while Apple shares dropped 2.1% following reports of potential delays for its foldable iPhone. Despite some progress in negotiations reported by Axios the looming threat of strikes on Iranian power plants kept investors defensively positioned. Consequently the 2.2% annual increase in February consumer credit failed to offset the overarching fog of war as the 8 p.m. deadline approached without a clear diplomatic breakthrough.

US stocks fell further on Tuesday as escalating tension in the Middle East magnified concerns of a global energy shock. The S&P 500, the Dow, and the Nasdaq 100 fell up to 1% before trimming losses. President Trump escalated threats against Iran to signal aggressive attacks incoming overnight, prompting Tehran to say they cut communication channels and dimming hopes of a deal between both countries. Tehran continued to impede outflows of tankers from the Hormuz chokepoint. Tech stocks were sharply lower as the pressure on risk sentiment dented demand for speculative sectors, with Nvidia, AMD, and Micron dropping around 1%, while Tesla fell over 3%. Meanwhile, Apple slipped 4% on reports from Nikkei that the company sees setbacks in the testing phase of a foldable iPhone. On the other hand, Broadcom jumped 4.5% after announcing a long-term agreement with Alphabet to supply TPUs. Also, Intel gained 3% on reports it may sign a deal with xAI for the development of semiconductors.