Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
Stock futures slipped Wednesday night after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a second day of losses and rising oil prices kept traders on edge.
Dow futures fell 294 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.6%, while Nasdaq 100 futures also dropped 0.6%. The market came under pressure in extended trading as oil prices continued their ascent: West Texas Intermediate futures were last up about 5%.
In the regular session, the S&P 500 and the 30-stock Dow declined, while the Nasdaq Composite eked out a slight gain. Energy, tech and communication services were the only sectors that closed in positive territory, led by gains in artificial intelligence infrastructure giant Oracle and refinery companies Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum.
Investors remained wary of the impact of the U.S.-Iran war on oil prices throughout the day, as higher costs stoke fears of inflation. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to slash energy costs.
WTI futures and Brent crude futures both settled more than 4% higher. Oil prices rose even after the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil in an effort to aid the supply disruption caused by the ongoing conflict.
Trump also said on Wednesday that he will tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower energy costs. “I filled it up once, and I’ll fill it up again, but right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” the president said in an interview with Cincinnati broadcaster WKRC.
U.S. forces on Tuesday sunk 16 mine-laying Iranian ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as oil tanker traffic remains stalled amid threat of Iranian attacks. Insurance company Chubb was announced as the lead underwriter for a U.S. government-led program to provide insurance to ships attempting to traverse the strait.
These moves come after Trump earlier this week said that the war will end “very soon,” which had caused a reprieve in surging oil prices after they topped $100 a barrel.
In addition to the conflict in the Middle East, investors are also eyeing weekly jobless claims and housing starts due Thursday morning. The personal consumption expenditures price index reading is due Friday.
Week to date, the S&P 500 is tracking for a 0.5% gain, while the Nasdaq is up nearly 1.5%. The Dow is the laggard of the three major stock indexes, losing almost 0.2% this week.