Major indexes on Wall Street fell today, Tuesday, as the Israeli-Iranian conflict entered its fifth day, negatively impacting global investor confidence ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision in its meeting tomorrow.
At 10:05 AM Eastern Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.26 percent, reaching 42,406 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.36 percent, reaching 6,011 points, and the Nasdaq Composite declined by 0.45 percent, reaching 19,612 points.
The air war between Iran and Israel, which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, raised fears that the conflict could cause bottlenecks in oil exports from the oil-rich Middle East.
Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report, said, '(Wall Street believes) the situation will be contained... the market is certainly monitoring the situation, but for now there is no panic in the market.'
Energy stocks rise with oil
U.S. energy stocks rose as oil prices continued to rise due to uncertainty, with Chevron's stock increasing by 1.8 percent and Exxon’s stock advancing by 1.7 percent.
This rise in oil prices comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision today, Wednesday, where it is widely expected that policymakers will keep interest rates unchanged.
Interest rate expectations
Money market movements indicate that traders are pricing in interest rate cuts of about 46 basis points by the end of 2025, with a 57 percent chance of a 25 basis point cut in September, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Data released today, Tuesday, showed U.S. retail sales declined more than expected in May, while factory output only rose slightly last month.
