Nasdaq Hits Six-Month Intraday Low As Middle East War Escalates

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday, adding to the steep losses posted in the previous session. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq hitting a six-month intraday low.

Currently, the major averages are well off their lows of the session but still firmly negative. The Dow is down 328.78 points or 0.7 percent at 45,896.37, the Nasdaq is down 134.40 points or 0.6 percent at 22,018.02 and the S&P 500 is down 35.39 points or 0.5 percent at 6,589.31.

The weakness on Wall Street comes amid concerns about the escalation of the war in the Middle East following attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region.

Israel bombed Iran's South Pars natural gas fields and oil facilities in Asaluyeh, while an Iranian missile attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan energy complex caused "extensive damage," according to the country's state-run energy firm.

President Donald Trump threatened in a post on Truth Social to "massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before" if there are further attacks on Qatar.

After soaring to nearly $120 a barrel following the latest attacks, Brent crude oil futures have given back some ground but remain above $111 a barrel.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 14th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 205,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 213,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 210,750, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 211,500.

Sector News

Gold stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances amid another steep drop by the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 6.5 percent to its lowest intraday level in over two months.

Considerable weakness is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

The weakness in the housing sector comes after the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales plunged to lowest level in over three years in January.

Steel and airline stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while energy stocks have moved sharply higher along with crude oil and natural gas prices.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plummeted by 3.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dove by 2.0 percent.

The major European markets have also shown significant moves to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index is down by 2.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 2.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 1.9 percent.

In the bond, treasuries have climbed back near the unchanged line after an early slump. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.267 percent after reaching a high of 4.326 percent.