Indexes down: Dow 0.33%, S&P 500 0.09%, Nasdaq 0.20%
Boeing shares fall after Air India plane crash
Oracle up after raising its annual revenue forecast
(Updates after markets open)
By Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta
June 12 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Thursday as signs of rising tensions in the Middle East hurt risk sentiment and investors sought more clarity on Washington’s recent trade deals with China.
Boeing declined 4.7% after an Air India 787-8 Dreamliner jet crashed minutes after taking off in India’s western city of Ahmedabad, killing more than 200 people.
Underscoring increased volatility in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday U.S. personnel were being moved out of the region as it could be a “dangerous place” and the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
“The clearing out of our embassies in the Middle East of non-essential employees sends a signal that we’re anticipating some turbulent times,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners.
A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday Tehran will strike U.S. bases in the region if nuclear negotiations fail and conflict arises.
China on Thursday affirmed a trade deal with the U.S., saying both sides needed to abide by the consensus. Traders are still waiting for more details on the trade framework discussed.
At 10:06 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140.49 points, or 0.33%, to 42,725.28, the S&P 500 lost 5.58 points, or 0.09%, to 6,017.36 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 39.52 points, or 0.20%, to 19,576.35.
Five of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sectors fell. Communication services dropped the most, with an about 0.7% decline, while utilities gained 0.8%.
Alphabet declined 1.1%, while Nvidia nudged 0.3% higher.
Among other movers, Oracle shares rose 12.1% after the cloud service provider raised its annual revenue growth forecast.
U.S.-listed shares of gold miners also advanced, as bullion prices hit a one-week high. Newmont gained 2.4%, Harmony Gold was up 2.1% and AngloGold Ashanti rose 5.2%.
After a tame consumer price report on Wednesday, softer-than-expected producer price data and largely unchanged initial jobless claims helped reduce investor porno jitters around tariff-driven price pressures.
Traders are pricing in 53.7 basis points of rate cuts by year-end, per data compiled by LSEG. They are penciling in a 60% chance of a 25 bps cut in September, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Policymakers are widely expected to keep rates unchanged next week.
With investors increasingly expecting Trump to reach favorable trade agreements with several countries in the coming weeks, the benchmark S&P 500 index is just 2.1% below its record high touched in February.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is about 2.9% from record levels hit in December.
Goldman Sachs trimmed its U.S. recession probability to 30% from 35% on easing uncertainty around Trump’s tariff policies.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 39 new lows. (Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
