Nasdaq and S&P 500 were flat while Dow Jones Industrial Average opened in red on Monday as the latest developments in the Middle East sent oil prices higher, sparking further worries about instability in the region.
Minutes into the trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 145.59 points or 0.29%, S&P 500 also fell over 0.13%, while Nasdaq was down 0.06%.
The nervousness stems from conflicting reports about a potential Iranian confrontation involving US naval assets. Iranian state media claimed that the country's navy had blocked “American-Zionist” warships from entering a sensitive zone, while another report suggested that missiles were fired at a US warship near Jask island after it allegedly ignored warnings. However, these claims remain unverified.
In response, United States Central Command clarified via a post on X that no US Navy ships had been struck, helping to slightly ease immediate fears but not fully calm markets.
ALSO READ: Iran Navy Launches Missiles Against Two US Warships In Hormuz: Reports
Procter & Gamble Co. fell over 2%, while Home Depot Inc., Walmart Inc. and Apple Inc. fell over 1%. On the other hand, Amazon.com Inc., NVIDIA Corp. and Microsoft Corp. among the gainers for the day.
As the US market opened, spot gold fell 1.07% to $4,564.7 an ounce. Even as stocks were trading mixed, crude prices fell with the West Texas trading 0.57% higher at $102.52 per barrel. Brent crude futures also rose 2.13% to $110.47.
The Bloomberg Dollar Index was little changed, with the British Pound fell 0.2% at $1.3552 and the Japanese yen was little changed at 157.08.
Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency was little changed at $78,951.78.
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