FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Update: Equities Fall Intraday as US-Iran Tensions Re-Escalate, Traders Parse Inflation Report

By
Update: Equities Fall Intraday as US-Iran Tensions Re-Escalate, Traders Parse Inflation Report

(Updates with latest market prices and developments.)

US benchmark equity indexes were lower intraday and oil prices jumped as tensions between Washington and Iran re-escalated, while traders assessed the latest inflation report.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 1.2% at 25,384.3 after midday Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3% to 50,238.6. The S&P 500 shed 0.9% to 7,318.4. Among sectors, industrials saw the steepest decline, while energy paced the gainers.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 3.7% at $91.44 a barrel, while Brent rose 3.1% to $94.30.

Iran will have to "pay the price" for taking too long to agree to a peace deal, US President Donald Trump said in a social media post Wednesday.

The US will resume attacks on Iran Wednesday, CNN reported, citing Trump.

US forces launched airstrikes Tuesday against Iran after Tehran shot down an American Apache helicopter, Central Command said. Iran launched retaliatory strikes on American military bases across Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, media reports showed.

"With no imminent deal in sight and with the global oil market tightening significantly every day, we see upside to prices, particularly if these disruptions linger into the third quarter, a period of seasonally stronger oil demand," ING Bank said in a report Wednesday.

US Treasury yields were higher intraday, with the 10-year rate up 1.6 basis points at 4.54% and the two-year rate rising one basis point to 4.13%.

In economic news, US annual inflation accelerated to the highest in about three years last month, fueling expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold for some time.

"The effects of the Iran war continued to surface in May, TD Economics said in a note. "While still relatively contained, cost pressures are starting to be felt beyond just higher prices at the pump, with airfares up over 8% since the start of the war, which is coming atop lingering tariff price effects and still elevated services (ex. shelter) inflation."

Markets widely expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged next week, which would mark its fourth straight pause, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

"With gas prices down sharply so far in June, May could mark the peak for headline (consumer price index), although inflation will be slow to decline, keeping the Fed on prolonged hold for most of this year," Oxford Economics said in a note.

In company news, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) shares were down 20% intraday, the worst performer on the S&P 500, as the company announced a series of concurrent equity and equity-linked financing transactions amounting to $7 billion.

Casey's General Stores (CASY) shares surged nearly 17%. Late Tuesday, the convenience store operator logged better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results.

Oracle (ORCL) is scheduled to report after the closing bell Wednesday.

Gold was down 3.3% at $4,147 per troy ounce, while silver fell 0.2% to $65.12.

Related Articles

WeChat's Tie-Up With Smartphone Makers Threatens Apple's China Market Share, Jefferies Says
US Markets

WeChat's Tie-Up With Smartphone Makers Threatens Apple's China Market Share, Jefferies Says

Tencent Holdings' (HKG:0700) recent move to integrate WeChat with China's major smartphone manufacturers via an agent-to-agent (A2A) capability poses a risk to Apple's market position in China, according to Jefferies analysts.The tech company recently confirmed that it is partnering with smartphone makers Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi (HKG:1810), OPPO and vivo to roll out A2A features, according to Jefferies."The collaboration is ongoing, and those capabilities will be rolled out gradually," WeChat was quoted by Nikkei Asia as saying.The first device to support the feature is the Honor 500 Pro smartphone, Jefferies said.The integration works by allowing a smartphone's AI assistant to take verbal instructions, then convert them into a text message and send it to WeChat."The WeChat agent will interact with its mini programs' agents to execute a transaction on the cloud. The benefit to [smartphone] OEMs is [a] faster upgrade cycle and potential [revenue] share," said Jefferies.However, Jefferies warned that "it may not meet [Apple's] privacy focus, but iPhone could risk lagging behind in China."The investment bank noted that the integration "will revolutionize the app-centric eCommerce ecosystem today, as consumers do not have to give specific merchant choice. AI could choose for them."Jefferies said this would turn smartphone makers into a "user intent distributor," making them gatekeepers to which e-commerce players the consumers pick to make purchases."It would give [smartphone] OEMs bargaining power that did not exist before," Jefferies said.However, the bank said Apple could lag behind in China as Tencent has not partnered with the US company on A2A. Jefferies cited Apple's existing agreement with Alibaba Group (HKG:9988) as a potential reason. Apple teamed up with Alibaba to deploy the Chinese tech and e-commerce company's AI model for Apple Intelligence in China.WeChat's A2A also involves limited on-device AI, as transactions would likely take place in the public cloud, said Jefferies."Therefore, it may not meet [Apple's] privacy requirements. However, as this ecosystem grows, iPhone could risk market share loss to local brands."Apple's share of the smartphone market in China had shrunk to 19% in the first quarter of 2026 from 22% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.However, it still ranked second overall in the three-month period, next to Huawei.Counterpoint said Apple continued to benefit from the strong demand for the iPhone 17 series earlier this year.

$HKG:0700$HKG:1810$HKG:9988
Nasdaq Composite Falls to 5-Week Low Amid Tech Pullback
US Markets

Nasdaq Composite Falls to 5-Week Low Amid Tech Pullback

US equities fell Tuesday, with technology stocks pulling back following a jump in the previous session, sending the Nasdaq Composite to its lowest close in five weeks.The tech-heavy index shed 1% to 25,678.8, its lowest finish since May 5. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 7,386.7, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 50,872.1 after a two-day decline.Barring tech and energy, all sectors were in the green, led by real estate.Salesforce (CRM) shares fell 3.9%, the worst performer on the Dow. The cloud-based customer relationship management platform provider implemented a fresh round of job cuts, Business Insider reported Tuesday.Apple (AAPL) dropped 3.6% and followed Salesforce on the Dow, while Cisco Systems (CSCO) declined 3.1%, the third worst performer on the index.Super Micro Computer (SMCI) slumped 7.6%, among the steepest declines on the S&P 500. Also under pressure were major tech names such as Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Dell Technologies (DELL).Outside tech, J.M. Smucker (SJM) reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results, while the food producer's full-year earnings outlook came in above Wall Street's estimates at the midpoint. The stock jumped 10%, the best performer on the S&P 500.Boeing (BA) fell behind European rival Airbus in both aircraft deliveries and orders for May, even as the US planemaker's deliveries rose sequentially and annually. The stock fell 0.7%.US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran shot down an American military helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night. He said the two pilots were unharmed, but the US must "respond to this attack."Trump told reporters in New York on Monday that a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict could be reached in "two or three days," CNBC reported. The crucial Strait of Hormuz, which remains effective shut, would reopen "immediately" after the deal, Trump reportedly said.Trump has made similar claims on a number of occasions in the past.West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 3.1% at $88.46 a barrel in Tuesday late-afternoon trade, while Brent fell 2.7% to $91.72.The global crude market has already lost 1 billion barrels of supply since the Iran war began at the end of February, Rystad Energy said in a note."Cumulative losses have now reached 1 billion barrels and are on track to nearly double by year-end under our base case, which still assumes a narrow US-Iran deal in June and a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz from mid-July," Aditya Saraswat, Middle East and North Africa research director at Rystad, said in a note.US Treasury yields were lower, with the 10-year rate last down four basis points at 4.53%, and the two-year rate falling 3.1 basis points to 4.14%.In economic news, US existing home sales increased to the highest level since December in May, a move that is expected to bode well for the economy, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.The US trade deficit narrowed in April as export growth outpaced an increase in imports, government data showed Tuesday.Gold was down 1.9% at $4,282.40 per troy ounce, while silver shed 4.7% to $65.39 per ounce.

$^IXIC$^SPX$AAPL$CRM$CSCO$DELL$DJI$IBM$MSFT$QCOM$SJM$SMCI
Home Sellers Outnumber Buyers by Nearly Half Million in May, Redfin Report Shows
US Markets

Home Sellers Outnumber Buyers by Nearly Half Million in May, Redfin Report Shows

US home sellers outnumbered buyers by almost half a million in May, indicating buyers hold the power in the housing market, Redfin said Tuesday.Sellers exceeded buyers by an estimated 46.9% last month, compared with the largest gap on record of 49.5% in December, according to the online real estate brokerage. The May tally was up from 46.4% a month earlier.The number of sellers rose 0.4% sequentially to 1.48 million in May, the highest level since 2020. There were about 1.01 million homebuyers in the market last month, "essentially unchanged" from a month ago, Redfin said.More sellers entered the market in May partly due to an uptick in home buying demand the month prior amid a strong jobs market and temporarily lower mortgage rates. However, house-hunting activity has since slowed down, according to the report.The brokerage attributed the flattening in home buying demand last month mainly because mortgage rates hit their highest level in almost a year, impacting affordability. House hunters were also affected by macro and geopolitical uncertainty, with the US-Israel war with Iran, increasing gas prices and inflation causing "financial jitters," Redfin said."With lots of inventory to choose from, buyers in most of the country can be selective and ask for concessions, while sellers still need to price competitively to stand out," Redfin Senior Economist Asad Khan said.While buyers have more room to negotiate and demand concessions, "the most desirable homes in popular metro areas -- and popular neighborhoods in all areas -- are still attracting multiple offers," Khan added.In May, 35 of the 50 most populous US metros tracked by Redfin were buyer's markets, led by areas in the Sun Belt. Nashville, Tennessee; Miami; and Austin are the biggest drivers of this spring's buyer's market. There were only seven seller's markets, with Long Island being the strongest, according to the report.Separately, a report by the National Association of Realtors showed Tuesday that US existing home sales increased to the highest level since December in May, a move that is expected to bode well for the economy.