Iran's Strike Against Israel Jolts Financial Markets — At a Glance

By Matt Grossman

Traders moved away from riskier assets and sought shelter in safe havens such as the U.S. dollar and government bonds after Iran fired an estimated 180 missiles at Israel, sparking the possibility of further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

--Stocks fell. The tech-centric Nasdaq Composite was down 1.3% and the broader S&P 500 was down 0.7% in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%. All off their earlier lows.

--U.S. government bonds rallied. Treasury yields, which fall as bond prices rise, dropped as investors moved away from riskier securities.

--The yield on the 10-year Treasury note finished at 3.74%, down from 3.8% on Monday and the yield on the 2-year note was at 3.62%, down from 3.65% Monday.

--The dollar gained against foreign currencies including the British pound, the euro, the Chinese yuan and the Russian ruble, while it weakened against the Japanese yen. The WSJ Dollar Index rose to 95.93 from 95.64 Monday.

--Oil futures rallied, though the price increase subsided in the afternoon after the attack ended and a large number of the missiles were intercepted. The WTI contract for November closed up around 2% at $69.83 a barrel, after rising as much as 5% when news of the attack broke.

--Front-month gold settled up 1.1% to $2,667.30 an ounce, nearing last week's record high.

--Stocks of defense companies rose. Shares of RTX, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions were all up 2.5% or more.

--Analysts were not immediately concerned about broad disruptions to global shipping. "The U.S. has enough military hardware in the region to mitigate the likelihood of a shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz or the Suez Canal," Karl Schamotta of Corpay said.

--Shares of gold miners and oil companies benefited from rising prices. Exxon Mobil, Barrick Gold, Athabasca Oil and Canadian Natural Resources all gained more than 2%.

--Earlier in the day, European stocks fell as fear about an imminent Iranian strike unsettled traders. The STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4% and the German DAX index was off 0.6%.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2024 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)

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