Wall Street Live: S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq fall as Middle East conflict escalates, oil prices rally, Microsoft dips

US stocks retreated on Tuesday on escalating the Israel-Iran conflict and ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision. 

As of 12:32 PM Eastern time, the S&P 500 was down 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% lower.

As of 10 AM Eastern time, the S&P 500 was down 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4%.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 156.5 points, or 0.37%, to 42358.62. The S&P 500 fell 21.0 points, or 0.35%, to 6012.15​, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 74.1 points, or 0.38%, to 19627.082. 

The US central bank began a two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. It is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

Israel's military said Iran's military leadership is "on the run" and that it had killed Iran's wartime chief of staff Ali Shadmani overnight four days into his job, after he replaced another top commander killed in the strikes.

US President Donald Trump departed early from a G7 meeting in Canada, saying he wanted a "real end" to the conflict, not just a ceasefire, and a "complete give-up" by Iran.

Data showed overall US retail sales dropped by 0.9% from April to $715.4 billion, a bigger-than-expected fall that suggests a slowing sales last month.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.43% from 4.46% late on Monday. The 2-year yield edged down to 3.96% from 3.97%.

Crude oil

Oil prices jumped on Tuesday after President Trump abruptly departed from the G7 talks to monitor the conflict between Israel and Iran and called for Tehran residents to evacuate.

Brent North Sea Crude rose 2.0% at $74.69 per barrel. West Texas Intermediates surged 2.0% at $71.66 per barrel.

Bullion

Gold prices gained on Tuesday as geopolitical tensions escalated in the Middle East.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $3,390.73 an ounce as of 10:00 AM EDT (1400 GMT). US gold futures fell 0.2% to $3,410.40.

Spot silver rose 2.1% to $37.1 per ounce, platinum added 0.4% to $1,251.81 and palladium rose 1.7% to $1,047.23.

Gainers and Losers

Among megacap stocks, Tesla lost 1.9%, Alphabet down about 1%, and Microsoft fell 0.49%.

Shares of Enphase Energy dropped 23.6% and First Solar shed 18.2%.

Jabil stock jumped 10.7% after reporting a stronger quarterly profit.

Verve Therapeutics shares soared 73.8% after Eli Lilly said it would buy the company developing genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease. Lilly stock lost 1%.