US stocks fall as investors pare risk on Iran conflict
US stocks fall as investors pare risk on Iran conflict
Major indices on Wall Street each lost more than one percent on Friday. Photo: AFP
Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower on Friday as Iran launched counterstrikes in response to Israeli air strikes, leaving most non-petroleum equities lower.
While oil producers and service companies rallied with oil prices, major indices spent the entire session in the red as investors shunned risk ahead of the weekend.
"After having a pretty solid run in May and the first part of June, markets found an excuse to take some profits," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist of B Riley Wealth.
The Dow Jones finished down 1.8 percent at 42,197.
The S&P 500 shed 1.1 percent to 5,976, while the Nasdaq dropped 1.3 percent to 19,406.
Analysts described Friday's selling as orderly.
Investors "are paring back some risk, but this is hardly a panicky sell-off," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.
The market is partially in "a wait and see approach to what happens over the weekend because it's obviously a very fluid volatile situation," Sosnick added.
Credit card and payment companies were under pressure following a Wall Street Journal report that Walmart and Amazon are exploring the issuance of stablecoins, potentially threatening conventional payment methods.
Visa and PayPal both dropped around five percent, while American Express lost 3.4 percent.
Adobe sank 5.3 percent despite reporting higher than expected profits as analysts pointed to disappointment that the company's artificial intelligence investments have not resulted in more revenue growth so far.
But a more than seven percent rise in crude prices in the wake of the Iran-Israel conflict lifted Halliburton by 5.5 percent and ConocoPhillips 2.4 percent. (AFP)
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