Wall Street closes mixed on ramped-up Middle East tensions

Dow Jones fell 0.07 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 0.21 per cent, while Nasdaq gained 10.01 per cent, to 22,697. Read more at straitstimes.com.

NEW YORK - US stocks lost steam on March 10, with the S&P 500 giving up early gains to skid into negative territory as investors weighed fading hopes for an earlier-than-expected end to the US-Israeli war on Iran against a backdrop of renewed military threats and ongoing worries of economic stagflation.

The Dow joined the S&P 500 in negative territory, while the Nasdaq eked out a nominal gain as US President Donald Trump reacted to reports that Iran was deploying mines in the crucial Strait of Hormuz with threats of retaliation and renewed calls for Iran’s total surrender.

“The market was showing some strength and it has given all that back,” said Mr Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. “There’s a lot of confusion among investors.”

“You see these headlines coming out of the White House that give the market hope, and then clearer heads prevail and markets realize this is nowhere near over,” Mr Ghriskey added.

The indexes wavered through early-session trepidation as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that March 10 would be the most intense day thus far of strikes against Iran.

The conflict has sparked a jump in crude prices, which has fueled worries over inflation against a backdrop of a weakening labour market - a toxic combination of rising costs and a softening economy called stagflation.