NEW YORK, April 19 — Wall Street stocks were mixed early today in a muted response to a reported Israeli strike on Iran that appears to have had a limited impact.
Stock futures plummeted on initial headlines of the attack, but had largely recovered by the time the market opened.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 per cent at 37,910.75.
The broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 5,011.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4 per cent to 15,542.08.
“We wouldn’t say that there is an all-clear signal being sounded by the market, but there is a relief signal being sent that things weren’t worse and that maybe, just maybe, the tit-for-tat strikes will come to an end and a wider regional conflict will be avoided,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
Besides worries over the Middle East, stocks have been buffeted in recent sessions by shifting expectations on US monetary policy, with traders betting the US central bank will delay cutting interest rates.
Among individual companies, Netflix sank 7.9 per cent despite reporting better-than-expected results. Analysts cited disappointment over the company’s commentary on sales in the current quarter. — AFP
