Wall Street ended Thursday's trading lower, as tensions in the Middle East escalated and oil rose above $100 a barrel, while major technology stocks came under strong pressure.

Index

Index reading

Change in value

Change (%)

51,711.65

(506.93)

(0.97%)

Week

Month

3 months

6 months

Year

3 years

All

25,137.69

(553.21)

(2.15%)

7,408.30

(90.66)

(1.21%)

24,763.12

(392.29)

(1.56%)

8,299.09

(138.80)

(1.65%)

10,639.17

(77.83)

(0.73%)

25,210.81

318.15

1.28%

66,422.60

307.00

0.46%

76,391.39

(363.66)

(0.47%)

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.97%, or 506 points, to 51711 points.

The broader S&P 500 index fell 1.21%, or 90 points, to 7408 points, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.15%, or 553 points, to 25137 points.

In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 index fell 1.18% to 639 points.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.73% to 10639 points, Germany's DAX fell 1.56% to 24763 points, and France's CAC 40 fell 1.64% to 8299 points.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.46% to 66422 points, and the broader TOPIX rose 0.51% to 4053 points.

Commodity

Price

Change in value

Change (%)

100.69

6.62

6.94%

92.19

5.36

6.11%

4,049.55

0.70

0.02%

In oil markets, Brent crude futures for September delivery jumped 7%, or $6.62, to $100.69 a barrel.

U.S. WTI crude futures for August delivery rose 6.17%, or $5.36, to $92.19 a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery fell 2.45%, or $101.70, to $4050.20 an ounce.

What's driving markets? Markets came under severe pressure from the spike in oil prices amid escalating US-Iran tensions, along with growing concerns over AI spending after Alphabet and Tesla earnings.