Wall Street’s slide on Thursday intensified as investors’ confidence in a possible end to the war with Iran faded again, pushing stocks lower while lifting oil prices. The Nasdaq Composite sank to levels described by traders as a “correction,” and the broader market slid toward what the report described as its longest losing stretch in nearly four years.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.7% for its worst day since January and was back on track for a fifth straight losing week, a run that the report said stretched back to before the Iran war began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 469 points, or 1%, while the Nasdaq composite sank 2.4% to fall more than 10% below its all-time high set earlier this year.
In parallel, trading turned sharply risk-focused across other regions. The report said stock markets also tumbled in much of Asia and Europe, with Germany’s DAX down 1.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.9% and South Korea’s Kospi down 3.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3%.
Oil prices rose as doubt took over again from hope about a possible end to the fighting, after a week that had opened with big hopes following remarks from President Donald Trump about productive talks. Iran denied direct talks were underway and dismissed a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire delivered via Pakistan, the report said, as the fighting continued and thousands more U.S. troops neared the region.
The report said Iran also tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route that typically carries about a fifth of the world’s oil exports from the Persian Gulf. It described the Strait as potentially becoming something like a “toll booth” for tankers to pass through, a development investors appeared to treat as a risk premium for crude.
Brent crude settled at $101.89, up 4.8%, and benchmark U.S. crude settled at $94.48, up 4.6%, after oil climbed as hopes dimmed for a return to normal shipping through the strait. Earlier, crude prices were described as having been around $70 before the war began, highlighting the magnitude of the rise associated with the recent market repricing.
The report also tied the market turbulence to interest-rate moves in Treasuries. It said the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped as high as 4.43% Thursday, up from 4.33% late Wednesday and from 3.97% before the war started, and that the move had pushed rates higher for mortgages and other kinds of loans, slowing economic activity.
A report on Thursday morning said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week measured, though the number remained low compared with historical figures. At the same time, the report said Wall Street’s expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year had “cratered,” in part because higher oil prices raised inflation worries.
On Thursday, the report said tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market. Meta Platforms fell 8% and Alphabet fell 3.4% after each had held relatively steady the day before, when a jury found Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social-media addiction trial; it said the financial penalties were small relative to the companies’ profits but could invite additional lawsuits.
Other large technology stocks also declined, with Nvidia down 4.2% and Amazon down 2%, while Apple was an outlier, inching up 0.1%. The report said Commercial Metals fell 4.7% after it reported weaker profit than analysts expected for the quarter, with CEO Peter Matt attributing part of the slowdown to bad weather affecting its North American operations while also saying underlying market conditions were favorable.
The report summarized the day’s index closes as the S&P 500 down 114.74 points to 6,477.16, 7.2% below its all-time high reached a couple of months earlier. It said the Dow fell 469.38 to 45,960.11, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 521.74 to 21,408.08.
Trump’s remarks also tracked with market jitters, according to the report. It said Trump warned on his social media network Thursday morning that Iran’s negotiators “better get serious soon, before it is too late,” adding that “once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!” The report said minutes after Wall Street finished trading for the day, Trump softened his talk by delaying a threat to “obliterate” Iranian power plants to April 6, allowing more time for talks.
After that shift, the report said oil prices trimmed some of their gains and Brent crude backed off toward $100 per barrel, while Treasury yields also pared earlier increases. It also noted that Trump’s earlier moves on threats for global tariffs—tied by the report to “Liberation Day”—had previously driven critics to allege he “always chickens out” when financial markets show enough pain.