With investors less optimistic about a resolution of the Middle East crisis, U.S. crude oil jumped about 5% to settle at $82.13 a barrel. Reopening the flow of oil through the Strait could mitigate concerns over heightened energy prices that have spurred inflation worries and led to concerns that central banks would have to raise interest rates. Also weighing on the market were shares of Intel, which fell after the chipmaker said it was planning to raise $15 billion through a share sale.
The S&P 500 notched a record-high close on Friday, helped by much stronger than expected earnings results.
“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,” said Tom Hainlin, an investment strategist at U.S. 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.”
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 4.74 points, or 0.06%, to end at 7,753.13 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 84.89 points, or 0.32%, to 26,605.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 71.77 points, or 0.13%, to 53,965.16.
Reports later this week could offer clues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path. Data on Friday that showed U.S. employers unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July prompted traders to cut odds of a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike in September. Traders now price in a 52% chance of a rate hike in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.More quarterly results are on the agenda as well, including reports from semiconductor company Applied Materials and networking equipment maker Cisco.
About 85% of the 436 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far this period have beaten estimates, according to LSEG data.
