-- US equity indexes traded lower after midday on Wednesday as crude oil futures and government bond yields jumped amid concern that Iran's blockade will be extended to force Tehran into a peace deal.
Index heavyweights Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), and Microsoft (MSFT) will report quarterly earnings after the bell, adding to frayed nerves as investors await the latest read on the hyperscalers' capital expenditure plans.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 48,853.3, with the S&P 500 down 0.2% to 7,121.9 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.4% lower at 24,572.2. All sectors except energy fell, with materials and industrials leading the decliners intraday.
President Donald Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, US officials told The Wall Street Journal. In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran's economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports, the WSJ said.
Trump assessed with his aides that the other options open to him -- resume bombing or walk away from the conflict -- carried more risk than maintaining the country's blockade, the officials told the WSJ.
"Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They'd better get smart soon!" Trump said in a Wednesday Truth Social post.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures jumped 6.7% to $106.70, and Brent crude futures surged 6.8% to $118.87 amid concern that Trump's policy will prolong disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for 20% of global crude oil flows.
In precious metals, gold futures dropped 0.7% to $4,575.00, and silver futures slumped 2% to $72.30, as higher crude oil prices raised inflation concerns. Most US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year up 4.6 basis points to 4.40%, the highest in about a month. The two-year jumped seven basis points to 3.91%.
The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee will make its latest policy announcement at 2 pm ET, followed by a press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The panel is certain to leave interest rates unchanged at the current target rate of 3.5% to 3.75%, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.
If the Iran war lasts longer, Central banks that haven't adopted more explicit tightening biases, such as the Fed, and/or where inflation has been running above target, also such as the Fed, may be seen behind the curve, according to a Macquarie note. "We would then expect to see a more hawkish tone and action emerge by May."
In economic news, US March housing starts jumped almost 11% to a 1.502 million annual rate from a 1.356 million pace in February, above the 1.38 million rate expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.
Building permits plunged nearly 11% to a 1.372 million rate in March, below the 1.39 million rate expected and following the 1.538 million rate reported in February.