new york – U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, but oil prices rose on concerns about a potential conflict between the United States and Iran.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3%, the first decline in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3%.
Booking Holdings fell 6.1%, one of the market’s biggest losses, even though the company behind the Booking.com, Priceline and OpenTable brands reported slightly higher profits than analysts expected in its latest quarter.
The company’s stock price has come under pressure amid concerns that competitors using artificial intelligence technology could upend the industry and steal customers away. Booking’s stock has lost about a quarter of its value this year.
Such concerns have spread to Wall Street, hitting industries ranging from software to legal services to trucking logistics. Investors are so suddenly and aggressively sanctioning stocks of companies deemed under threat from AI that analysts liken it to a “ask first, ask questions later” mentality.
This suspicion is hurting not only the companies seen as potential victims of AI, but also the private financial companies that lend money to them. For example, Blue Owl Capital fell 5.9% for a yearly loss of 22.5%. Apollo Global Management fell 5.2% and Ares Management fell 3.1%.
Carvana fell 7.9% despite reporting its latest quarter’s profit was stronger than analysts expected. Investors may have been focused on how much profit auto retailers made on each vehicle sold, but those profits were lower than expected.
Walmart, on the other hand, rose 2.7% in the early going but then turned lower, pushing and pulling the market. The retail giant reported results for its latest quarter that beat analysts’ expectations, but earnings expectations for next year fell short of expectations. The stock ended the day down 1.4%.
Helping to limit market losses was Deere, which soared 11.6% after the machinery maker reported a profit that beat analysts’ expectations. CEO John May said demand from construction and small-scale agricultural customers continued to recover, although large global agricultural customers remained under pressure.
Part of the S&P 500’s big rally was driven by oil company stocks, which rose along with oil prices. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 1.9% to $66.43 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 1.9% to $71.66 a barrel.
Oil prices rose on concerns about a possible military conflict between the United States and Iran. President Trump is increasing pressure on Iran, which boasts some of the world’s largest oil reserves, due to its nuclear program. If conflict erupts, global oil flows could be constricted.
Occidental Petroleum also rose 9.4% after reporting better-than-analyst-expected profits for the most recent quarter.
Overall, the S&P 500 fell 19.42 points to 6,861.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 267.50 points to 49,395.16, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 70.91 points to 22,682.73.
In the bond market, US Treasury yields remained relatively stable following reports that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the US fell last week. This could be a signal that the pace of layoffs is slowing.
A strong job market could lengthen the time it takes for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again. Fed officials said at their last meeting that they wanted to see inflation fall further before supporting further rate cuts this year.
If oil prices continue to rise, inflation will rise.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 4.07% from 4.09% late Wednesday.
Other U.S. economic reports show that although manufacturing growth in the Mid-Atlantic region is accelerating, prospective home buyers across the country did not close on many deals in January. The U.S. trade deficit also widened in December more than economists expected.
In overseas stock markets, indexes in Europe fell due to strong performance in Asia.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 3.1% as trading resumed after the Lunar New Year holiday. Markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai remained closed.
Cho writes for The Associated Press. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
