US STOCKS-Wall Street falls as investors weigh Middle East war risks

Wall Street's ‌main ​indexes fell on Thursday as the Middle East conflict entered its sixth day, raising concerns of fresh inflation pressures that could complicate the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions.

Helping limit the losses was a strong forecast from Broadcom that projected its artificial intelligence chip revenue would exceed $100 billion ‌next year, sending shares of the chip designer up 5.3%. Despite the U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran showing no signs of cooling off, Wall Street's main indexes have fared better than their European and Asian counterparts this week, aided primarily by a rebound in technology stocks that bore the brunt of February's selloff.

The tech-led recovery in the prior session helped the Nasdaq recover all weekly losses, putting ‌it on track to close the week in positive territory if those gains hold through Friday. Still, a prolonged disruption in shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz is likely to ‌further fuel inflation pressures through energy and shipping costs, at a time when U.S. tariffs have already complicated the Fed's monetary policy outlook.

"The base case for the U.S. itself is that this war should be relatively short-lived which explains why, in absolute terms, equities have not fallen by very much, despite the quite sharp increases we've seen in spot commodity prices," said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management. Any signs that crude prices could hit $100 a ⁠barrel would ​be worrisome for markets and investors were on the ⁠lookout for reports that the conflict could be nearing its end.

U.S. crude prices jumped to their highest since January, which slammed travel stocks, with the passenger airlines sub-sector tumbling 5.7%, while Royal Caribbean Cruises and Viking Holdings lost 1.4% ⁠and 3.4%, respectively. Policymakers have broadly acknowledged the need to wait and gauge the impact on the economy, although investors are anticipating price pressures to delay a 25-basis-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve to October from ​July, according to LSEG-compiled data.

At 11:53 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 786.98 points, or 1.61%, to 47,952.43, the S&P 500 lost 49.45 points, or 0.72%, to ⁠6,820.05 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 92.73 points, or 0.41%, to 22,714.76. Losses were broad, with healthcare, materials , consumer staples and industrials falling over 2% each.

On the other hand, energy gained 0.7%, with APA up 4%. The CBOE volatility index was ⁠up ​1.92 points at 23.18, reflecting broader investor caution, while the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 index was down 1.8%.

Declines in financials such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs also weighed on the blue-chip Dow. On the flip side, booking stocks such as Booking Holdings and Expedia shot up 10% and 7% to the top of the S&P 500.

A report from the Information said OpenAI was ⁠scaling back on-platform shopping checkout plans for ChatGPT, which could mark an end to disruption worries for internet marketplace businesses. Among others, Trade Desk surged 18% after a report that OpenAI held early ⁠talks with the advertising-technology firm to sell ads.

Meanwhile, data ⁠showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.34-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the ‌Nasdaq Composite recorded 27 new highs ‌and 57 new lows.