S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average opened flat on Thursday as oil prices rise amid renewed US-Iran tensions. In addition, Nasdaq Composite surged with semiconductor stocks outperforming.
Minutes into the trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63 points or 0.1%, S&P 500 gained over 0.04%, while Nasdaq was up 0.08%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares rose nearly 2%, while Salesforce Inc. shares were down over 4%. Microsoft Corp., McDonald's Corp., Procter & Gamble Co. and Walt Disney Co. shares were down nearly 2%.
In addition, initial jobless claims moved lower during holiday week, continuing to come off their early June spike, according to the Labor Department report on Thursday.
As the US market opened, spot gold rose 1% to $4,117.5 an ounce. While, West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.2% to trade above $73.65 per barrel. Brent crude edged higher to trade around $79 a barrel. The Bloomberg Dollar Index was little changed, with the British Pound rising 0.1% at $1.3404 and the Japanese yen was little changed at 162.43.
Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency rose 1.3% at $62,856.44.
On Wednesday, S&P 500 fell slightly and Nasdaq rose amid push from semiconductors. The Dow Jones also tumbled on Wednesday due to the renewed tensions between Iran and US.
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The US launched a fresh round of strikes on Iran after Tehran targeted commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Central Command on Wednesday. The military later confirmed that an additional wave of strikes had also been carried out. Despite the escalation, crude oil futures traded largely flat after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Iran in an effort to reach a deal.
The developments followed Trump's remarks earlier on Wednesday that he may no longer be interested in negotiating with Iran. Before that, he had declared that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "over" following another wave of attacks in the Middle East.
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