Wall Street: Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq erase gains as Middle East war shows no signs of easing

Major stock indices on Wall Street erased gains on Friday as the conflict between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance showed no signs of easing.

As of 12:16 p.m. Eastern Time, the S&P 500 was down 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7% lower.

At 10:10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 197.09 points, or 0.42%, to 46,874.94, the S&P 500 gained 28.78 points, or 0.43%, to 6,701.40 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 89.51 points, or 0.40%, to 22,401.49.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11.4 points, or 0.02%, to 46,689.24. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 points, or 0.01%, to 6,673.49​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 113.7 points, or 0.51%, to 22,425.704.

A data released by the Commerce Department indicated that economic expansion in the fourth quarter decelerated more drastically than first estimated. This slowdown follows downward adjustments to both business investments and household spending figures.

A separate data revealed that consumer spending for January saw a marginal increase that slightly surpassed analyst projections.

However, broader sentiment appears to be cooling; the University of Michigan’s preliminary March estimate for consumer confidence dipped to 55.5, down from 56.6 recorded in late February.

Following the latest data, the US Federal Reserve is widely anticipated to maintain current interest rates during its upcoming policy meeting next week.

Market participants are now bracing for the release of crucial US inflation data later on Friday. The PCE index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric for measuring price growth.

"Inflation remains elevated, sticky and with the possibility of energy prices eventually moving into the pipeline, the Fed is likely to stay on hold for a longer period of time," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities, according to Reuters.

Key Stock Movers

Shares of American Airlines slipped 0.6%, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise rose 2.7% and 1.5%, respectively.

Adobe stock fell 6.5% after the firm said longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will leave his role once a successor is appointed.

Crypto-firm Strategy’s stock jumped 4.7% as bitcoin prices surged more than 4%.

Meta Platforms shares fell 1.8% as a report said the Facebook owner postponed the release of its artificial intelligence model "Avocado" to at least May, from this month.

Bullion Market

Gold prices rose on Friday on inflation worries driven by the Iran war.

By 8:52 a.m. ET (1252 GMT), spot gold gained 0.8% at $5,118.39 per ounce. US gold futures for April delivery were flat at $5,124.70.

Among other metals, spot silver rose 0.7% to $84.32. Platinum lost 1.4% to $2,102.12 and palladium shed 0.6% to $1,608.75.

Crude Oil

Oil prices dipped under $100 on Friday, but remained far above pre-Mideast war levels with no end in sight to the disruption in crude supplies.

By 1330 GMT, Brent North Sea Crude was down 1.6% at $98.84 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell 2.2% at $93.52 per barrel.