(Updates with index/price moves and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes were mixed after big-tech names partially offset a broadly negative tape, with markets under pressure amid higher government bond yields and crude oil prices ahead of Friday's close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.9% to 53,875.2, with the S&P 500 down 0.2% to 7,711.5. The Nasdaq Composite was little changed at 26,361.4. Energy topped the sector charts intraday, followed by technology. Materials and industrials led the decliners.
Among companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion, three of the top five belonged to either the semiconductor or the semiconductor equipment and materials industries. Shares of Arm (ARM), the biggest outperformer in this category and one of the Nasdaq's leaders, advanced 5%.
SpaceX (SPCX), also an outperformer in the mega-caps category, will build a vertically integrated semiconductor fabrication facility in Grimes County, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement Thursday. Phase one of the Terafab project includes a capital investment of more than $16.8 billion, he said. Shares of SpaceX climbed 4.2%, one of the top gainers on the Nasdaq.
Tech giant Sandisk's (SNDK) shares traded 5.3% lower after dropping more than 10% earlier in the session, following fiscal Q4 results that showed an adjusted earnings and revenue beat. Raymond James adjusted its price target on Sandisk's shares to $2,000 from $1,470.
Iran will seek to bar US and Israeli ships from the Strait of Hormuz and require compensation from hostile countries before they're allowed to use it, Bloomberg cited local media reports on a proposed Iran-Oman deal to manage the crucial waterway. The agreement has become key to expectations for a reopening of Hormuz and a resumption of energy flows that have been throttled since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, the news report said.
Iran has made a concerted diplomatic push with Gulf states, warning them explicitly that Tehran will hit their oil, power and water plants unless they convince President Donald Trump to end US strikes on Iran, Reuters reported Thursday.
The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract jumped 3.1% to $77.56 a barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent surged 4.1% to $82.68 a barrel.
US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield up 4.7 basis points to 4.66% and the two-year higher by 6.2 basis points to 4.24%.