Wall Street opens lower after Trump’s comments dash Iran resolution hopes

Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower on Thursday in the final session of the holiday week, after US President Donald Trump hinted at more aggressive strikes on Iran, dimming hopes for a swift end to the Middle East conflict.

watched closely during address to the nation On Wednesday, Trump said military operations would be stepped up over the next two to three weeks, a sharp contrast to his previous comments that the US would be “out of Iran very quickly.”

Oil prices rose nearly seven percent, pushing Brent crude futures to $108 US per barrel. Energy stocks rose in the US, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron rising about 2.4 percent in premarket trading.

“The problem is that we didn’t learn anything new. We’re back to a place where we know less, not more, about how we find our way out of this war,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

“The market is going to repeat some of the constructive activity seen over the past few days.”

Earlier this week, markets were optimistic that the end of the war was near, leading Wall Street’s three indexes on track for their biggest weekly increase in four months and their first week of gains in six.

At 8:40 a.m. ⁠ET, Dow E-minis were down 641 points or 1.37 percent, S&P 500 E-minis were down 98 points or 1.48 percent and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 452.25 points or 1.87 percent.

Futures tracking the Russell 2000 index fell 2.1 percent. The CBOE VIX index, which measures Wall Street’s fear, rose to 27.54 points after falling to a one-week low on Wednesday.

impact of middle east conflict

The month-long Middle East conflict hit global markets in March, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting their biggest monthly losses in a year, and Brent crude prices posting their strongest monthly performance on record.

Money market participants are no longer pricing in any further easing from the Federal Reserve, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, as energy-driven inflation concerns have clouded the central bank’s monetary policy outlook. They were expecting two cuts before the conflict began.

Investors will be focused on developments surrounding Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday. The company is expected to aim for a valuation of US$1.75 trillion, according to a Reuters report citing two people familiar with the matter, which prompted a rally in smaller peers.

Meanwhile, data showed the number of new Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell ⁠— to 202,000 — in the week ending Saturday, below the estimate of 212,000 among economists polled by Reuters.

Nonfarm payrolls numbers are expected on Friday, but U.S. markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday.

Investors are also awaiting comments from Dallas Fed President Laurie Logan later in the day.

In premarket moves, Globalstar shares jumped 12.3 percent after a report said Amazon is in talks to buy the low-Earth-orbit communications satellite company.