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Wall Street Tumbles After Trump Address04/02 09:37
Stocks slumped and oil prices soared Thursday after President Donald Trump
vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear
timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks slumped and oil prices soared Thursday after
President Donald Trump vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed
to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, with three out of every four stocks in the benchmark
index losing ground. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 545 points, or 1.2%,
as of 9:52 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.6%. Major indexes
throughout Europe and Asia also fell.
The broad slide for U.S. and global stocks follows a national address from
Trump on Wednesday where he said the U.S. will continue to hit Iran "extremely
hard over the next two to three weeks." Markets had been mostly gaining ground
throughout the week on hopes that the war would conclude soon. Major indexes
are still on track to close out the week with gains.
Thursday is the last day of trading on Wall Street this week with with the
stock market closed on Good Friday.
Crude oil prices have been the main force behind the sharp swings for stocks
globally. Shipping traffic has been severely curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz,
where a fifth of the world's traded oil passes through during peacetime.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to
$109.10. per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude surged 11.7% to $111.92 a barrel.
Prices had been sliding back toward $100 per barrel prior to Trump's address on
Wednesday.
Markets have been broadly sliding since the war began, with indexes often
rising and falling sharply along with statements from Trump about the direction
of the war. Just on Monday, the S&P 500 briefly neared a 10% drop from its
record, a steep-enough fall that professional investors have a name for it: a
"correction. It gained ground Tuesday and Wednesday on hope that the war could
end soon.
Airlines and other travel-related companies were among the biggest losers on
Thursday. United Airlines fell 6.1% and Carnival shed 5%. Energy companies
gained ground, with Exxon Mobil rising 2.3% and Chevron gaining 3.4%.
Treasury yields remained relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on
the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.33% from 4.32%.
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