Stocks fall as Trump's 8 p.m. Iran deadline spooks markets

Stocks fell on Tuesday, April 7, as President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran is approaching.

Since the Strait of Hormuz has not opened yet, the stock market rattled as hopes of a ceasefire are fading.

Dow Jones Industrials fell by 256 points or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 declined by 0.5%. Nasdaq fell by 0.8%, performing relatively poorer than the two indices due to weak chip stocks.

According to The Wall Street Journal, negotiators don’t hold hope that an agreement will be made before the deadline since there’s still too much space between both parties, according to US officials. Despite this, Iranian news sources have suggested that the negotiations aren’t over yet.

Oil prices jumped due to the increased tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed by 3%, trading at above $116 a barrel. At the same time, Brent crude climbed above $110 a barrel.

A standout performer was Broadcom, gaining 3% after entering into more agreements regarding artificial intelligence with Google and Anthropic. Arm Holdings, in turn, dropped by almost 6% after being downgraded by Morgan Stanley.

UBS cut its year-end S&P 500 target to 7,500 from 7,700, citing uncertainty from the U.S.-Iran war.