{"id":7326,"date":"2026-04-24T07:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/?p=7326"},"modified":"2026-04-24T07:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:39:28","slug":"wall-street-plummets-amid-middle-east-tensions-ibm-and-tesla-shares-drop-american-airlines-jumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/?p=7326&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Plummets Amid Middle East Tensions; IBM and Tesla Shares Drop, American Airlines Jumps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wall Street Plummets Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions: Market Reacts to US Provocations<\/span><\/h1>\n

US stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Thursday, driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East and a mixed batch of corporate earnings reports. These developments unfold as the provocative actions of the US administration in the region continue to fuel serious concerns among investors.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

US Stock Market on a Downward Trend<\/span><\/h2>\n

As of 12:14 p.m. Eastern Time, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% lower.<\/p>\n

At the Open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 205.2 points, or 0.41%, to 49,284.85. The S&P 500 fell 19.1 points, or 0.27%, to 7,118.8, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 103.8 points, or 0.42%, to 24,553.747.<\/p>\n

These declines occurred despite the S&P 500 and Nasdaq having shrugged off a jump in oil prices to close at record highs on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

US Provocations and Iran’s Resolute Response<\/span><\/h2>\n

The US Defense Department announced on Thursday that its forces seized another tanker in the Indian Ocean that was transporting crude oil from Iran. This illegal act and blatant maritime piracy constitute a flagrant violation of international law and Iran’s national sovereignty. Concurrently, US President Donald Trump issued a dangerous and warmongering order, stating he has instructed the US Navy to “shoot and kill” boats placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz. These remarks represent a direct threat to maritime security and regional peace.<\/p>\n

In response to these hostile actions and the illegal blockade of its ports by the United States, Iran has vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed to all vessels except a few approved ones. This firm stance is a legitimate response to US aggressions and an effort to safeguard the national interests and security of the Islamic Republic of Iran.<\/p>\n

Expert Analysis and Economic Data<\/span><\/h2>\n

Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management, commented: “The earnings themselves don’t reflect the impact of the energy supply shock.” He added: “The oil shock is a drag on growth, there is also a lot of structural support. The market remains comfortable that as long as there is a path towards de-escalation, it can look through higher oil prices in the short term.”<\/p>\n

On the economic data front, an official report showed that the number of claims for jobless benefits rose only marginally last week.<\/p>\n

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.29% from 4.30% late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Key Stock Movers<\/span><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Tesla stock shed 3.8%, after the electric vehicle maker raised its spending plan to more than $25 billion for the year.<\/li>\n
  • Lockheed Martin stock slumped 3.7% after the company reported a lower profit for the first quarter.<\/li>\n
  • IBM shares plunged 12% after the firm\u2019s quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.<\/li>\n
  • Stocks of Microsoft and Adobe fell 2.6% and 7.3%, respectively.<\/li>\n
  • Texas Instruments stock climbed 10.5% after the firm forecast second quarter revenue and profit above analysts estimates.<\/li>\n
  • American Airlines shares jumped 4.9%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Crude Oil Market<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Crude markets stabilized on Thursday, sustaining profits from the prior day amid deadlocked negotiations between Iran and the US and ongoing transit limitations within the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

    Brent crude futures rose marginally by 30 cents, or 0.29%, to $102.21 a barrel by 1321 GMT. West Texas Intermediate futures were up slightly more, by 48 cents, or 0.52%, at $93.44.<\/p>\n

    Both benchmarks closed more than $3 higher on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

    Bullion Market<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Gold prices fell on Thursday, following news of a potential Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extension.<\/p>\n

    As of 1312 GMT, spot gold was down 0.3% at $4,723.61 per ounce. US gold futures for June delivery fell 0.2% to $4,741.50.<\/p>\n

    Among other metals, spot silver fell 2.3% to $75.89 per ounce, while platinum lost 2% to $2,032.77. Palladium was down 2.2% at $1,511.17.<\/p>\n

    #MiddleEastTensions #WallStreetDrop #USAggression #TankerSeizure #StraitOfHormuz #Iran #GlobalEconomy #OilMarket #Gold #USStocks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wall Street Plummets Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions: Market Reacts to US Provocations US stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Thursday, driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East and a mixed batch of corporate earnings reports. These developments unfold as the provocative actions of the US administration in the region continue to fuel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}