Wall Street Today: DJIA, S&P 500, Nasdaq Comp Fall on U.S.-Iran War and MU, TSLA, NVDA, CAT Losses

The S&P 500, Dow-30 and Nasdaq Composite all fell Tuesday amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, but the indexes partly recouped 2%+ intraday losses after Washington vowed to keep the key Strait of Hormuz open to oil tankers.

The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ shed 232.17 points (1%) to a 22,516.69 close, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ lost 64.99 ticks (0.9%) to 6,816.63 and the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ eased 403.51 points (0.8%) to 48,501.27.

Macro

All three indexes had been down more than 2% earlier in the day after Iran vowed late Monday to "close" the Hormuz Strait, a narrow waterway off of its coast where 20% of the world's oil output travels via tankers.

Tehran threatened to attack boats crossing the strait – news that sent West Texas Intermediate oil futures up more than 9% earlier Tuesday after rising as much as 12% on Monday.

However, oil prices pared those gains and stocks reduced their losses after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Navy would escort oil tankers through the strait, while Washington will also insure vessels against damage.

$Crude Oil Futures (JUN6) (CLmain.US)$ were trading just 4.8% higher at $74.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at last check.

Meanwhile, $Gold Futures (JUN6) (GCmain.US)$ eased 4% to $5,100.20 an ounce on the New York Comex, while $Silver Futures (MAY6) (SImain.US)$ gave back 7.3% to $82.35 per ounce.

Gold and silver – which historically rise in a "flight to safety" amid any geopolitical tensions – had been rising for more than a week in anticipation of the conflict, which broke out Saturday.

Separately, cryptocurrencies fell in an apparent "risk-off" move amid the global instability and lower prices for U.S. stocks.

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ was trading 1.6% lower at $68,032.92 as of about 4:45 p.m. New York time, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ lost 3.6% to $1,966.08,$Solana (SOL.CC)$shed 3.3% to $84.80 and $Ripple (XRP.CC)$gave back 3.2% to $1.35.

Moovers

Several Big Techs fell on a combination of risk-off sentiment and some poorly received earnings or forward guidance.

Tech names to sink on disappointing earnings or guidance released Thursday evening included $MongoDB (MDB.US)$ (down 22.2%), $Credo Technology (CRDO.US)$ (off 14.8%) and $BigBear.ai Holdings (BBAI.US)$ (7.3% weaker).

$CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ also sank another 5.5% following poorly received Q1 guidance last week.

Big Techs to fall on the market's general risk-off mood included$SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ (off 8.7%), $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ (8% lower) and $Intel (INTC.US)$(5.3% weaker).

So did four of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks: $Tesla (TSLA.US)$(2.7% softer), $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ (down 1.3%), $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (off 1%) and $Apple (AAPL.US)$(which lost 0.4%).

Still, three Mag-7 stocks ended higher -- $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (1.4% better), $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ (0.23% firmer) and $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ (which added 0.16%).

That said, several non-tech blue chips sank amid Tuesday's geopolitical jitters.

Noteworthy non-tech decliners included $Caterpillar (CAT.US)$ (down 4%), $Nike (NKE.US)$(off 2.7%) and $Boeing (BA.US)$(2.5% weaker). All three are Dow and S&P 500 components and well-known U.S. multinationals that rely on free-flowing global trade.

Other stocks to see significant percentage declines Tuesday included:

-- $Sea (SE.US)$, which fell 16.5%. The Southeast Asian e-commerce platform fell on poorly received quarterly results after earlier hitting an 18-month intraday low.

-- $Lumentum (LITE.US)$ (down 11.3%) and $Coherent (COHR.US)$ (6.1% lower). Both returned part of big gains they rang up Monday on word that $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ had invested in them. Rival $Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI.US)$ – which also rose Monday in sympathy – gave back 7% Tuesday.

-- $Quantum Computing (QUBT.US)$, down 10.1%. The quantum-computing firm fell on poorly regarded quarterly results.

-- Select defense and oil stocks, which returned part of the gains they saw Monday following the U.S.-Iran conflict's weekend start. Tuesday's decliners included $Ondas (ONDS.US)$(down 6.1%), $Exxon Mobil (XOM.US)$ (off 1.6%), $Lockheed Martin (LMT.US)$ (1.3% weaker) and $Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$ (down 1%).

Conversely, Tuesday's noteworthy percentage gainers included:

-- $Plug Power (PLUG.US)$, up 23.2%. The hydrogen-technology firm soared after reporting well-received earnings and forward guidance.

-- $AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US)$, 6.6% better. The space-based broadband company rallied after releasing results after the bell Monday.

-- Certain defense- and security-related names that bucked the sector's general downtrend on Tuesday and rose amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran crisis. Tuesday's winners included $Red Cat Holdings (RCAT.US)$ (7.5% firmer), $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ (up 1.4%) and $AeroVironment (AVAV.US)$, which added 9.6%. AVAV had risen 20.1% intraday Monday amid the conflict, but ended the day 17.4% lower after Raymond James cut the stock's rating all the way down to "Underperform" from an earlier "Strong Buy."

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