Middle East conflict fears weigh on Wall Street as energy prices surge

NEW DELHI: US stocks closed lower on August 10 as investors became less confident about a resolution to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Reuters report. Energy supply concerns pushed US crude oil prices up about 5 per cent. Reopening the flow through the Strait could ease concerns over energy prices that have raised worries about inflation and potential central bank rate hikes.

At the time of reporting, Brent Crude traded at USD 87.94, up 0.25 per cent, while Crude Oil rose to USD 82.35. Gold increased 0.87 per cent to reach USD 4,429.51.

Diplomatic tensions remained high as US President Donald Trump demanded compensation from Iran for deaths caused in wars, attacks, and protests. Earlier, Iran demanded that Washington meet conditions, including compensation for damage caused since US and Israeli strikes began on its territory more than five months ago.

At the time of reporting, US market indices showed declines across the board. Dow Jones Futures stood at 53,925.26, down by 50.72 points (-0.09%). Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dipped 4.53 points (-0.06%) to 7,753.11, and the Nasdaq declined by 85.26 points (-0.32%) to settle at 26,605.36.

Losses in semiconductor stocks also weighed heavily on the broader market. As per Reuters, shares of Intel fell 4.1 per cent following its announcement to raise USD 15 billion through a share sale. Shares of Nvidia dropped 2.9 per cent. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that financial firms, including Apollo Global and Blackstone, are working with Nvidia on a USD 500 billion funding package for AI infrastructure development.

The market retreat comes despite solid corporate earnings, with about 85 per cent of the 436 S&P 500 companies reporting results so far beating estimates. “It’s record margins and record earnings. That’s just been the story of this market, and yet the overlay of the Iran conflict just pulls risk sentiment on and then pulls it off,” Reuters quoted Tom Hainlin, an investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

“The direct impact is just the energy sector and … oil prices, and they’re just sticky here above where they were on February 27 before the conflict. So there’s clearly no transparency of the path to get back to where we were before the conflict started, and so that premium’s just being built in. So far, the world’s been able to work around it, but those workarounds don’t last forever,” Hainlin added. (ANI)