US stocks dip, oil rises on Middle East escalation
The S&P 500 fell 0.2% on Thursday on a continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.1%, and the Russell 2000 lost 0.7%.
President Biden on Thursday said that the US was discussing the potential for Israel to attack Iranian oil facilities with Israeli officials. Oil benchmarks spiked on the comments. Futures of both US crude oil and Brent crude rose more than 5% at settlement.
As a result, energy was the best performer among major S&P 500 sectors. The sector ETF added 1.8%, with companies like Valerogaining 6.2% and Marathon Petroleum, up 5.7%.
Consumer discretionary lost the most, off 1.2%. It was dragged down by Tesla, which fell 3.4%. Shares of the EV maker were down 3.5% on Wednesday after it posted deliveries for the third quarter which was short of expectations.
The dollar gained for the fourth straight day, and the Treasury yields advanced for the second session. Weekly jobless claims released on Thursday were modestly up from a week earlier and slightly higher than analysts’ expectations.