After pushing strongly ahead in early trading on Wall Street, momentum weakened for major US indices, with the tech-rich Nasdaq and broad-based S&P 500 finishing lower. The Dow still mustered a 0.5 percent gain, lifting it to a third straight record close.
“It’s just a case of the market taking a breather right now,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare, adding that investors are still “operating with a bullish-minded bias for the most part.”
Oil prices also finished mixed as markets tried to parse the latest developments regarding a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran’s foreign ministry said Iran and Oman have agreed a route for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and are putting the final touches on arrangements for jointly managing the waterway.
But official sources briefing Iranian media stressed that any reopening of the strait would depend on the United States fulfilling what Tehran sees as its commitment to end its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports.
“The factors making the Strait of Hormuz insecure still exist on the part of the United States, particularly the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests,” said Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to state news agency IRNA.
Oil prices had fallen sharply on both Monday and Tuesday as Trump administration officials said they were close to an accord with Iran that would reopen the Hormuz Strait.
“Whatever the damage to the US’ standing internationally, markets only care for now about the beneficial effect of lower oil prices, which are likely to help cool inflation and ease back the chances of Fed hikes in 2026,” said Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.
Among individual companies, SpaceX slid 13.6 percent after Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company posted its first quarterly earnings report as a publicly traded company. Analysts pointed to worries about SpaceX’s spending after expenditures exceeded US$18 billion in the three months ending in June.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) the processor and graphics solutions giant slipped around seven percent, despite beating analysts’ estimates.
The Dow rose 0.5 percent, to 54,349, the Nasdaq fell 0.8 percent, to 26,363, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent, to 7,723. (AFP)