U.S. stocks pulled back from Friday’s highs. Markets were hit by concerns over a new escalation of tensions in the Middle East, while the dollar strengthened on the foreign exchange market.
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Wall Street Lost Ground, While Energy Stocks Gained
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks shares of 30 leading U.S. companies, fell 1.15% to 48,932.02 points. The broader S&P 500 declined 0.41% to 7,200.75 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.19% and closed at 25,067.80 points.
According to Reuters, optimism from first-quarter corporate earnings, which have been beating estimates, is being dampened mainly by developments around Iran, which is demonstrating its influence over the region’s oil market. Reports of clashes in the Persian Gulf supported energy stocks, while shares of FedEx and UPS fell sharply after news that Amazon plans to compete more directly with these delivery companies.
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Dollar Benefited From Lower Investor Risk Appetite
The escalation of the situation in the Middle East helped the U.S. currency. Investors increased their demand for dollars again as their willingness to enter riskier assets declined.
The dollar index, which tracks the value of the dollar against a basket of six major world currencies, was up 0.2% at 98.39 points shortly before 22:00 CEST. The euro lost 0.2% against the dollar to trade at 1.1701 USD, while the dollar gained 0.03% against the yen and traded at 157.06 JPY. Meanwhile, Bitcoin exceeded the 80,000 dollar mark for the first time in more than three months, equivalent to roughly 1.7 million Czech crowns.
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Source: ČTK
