Wall Street Today: DJIA, S&P 500, Nasdaq Comp Fall as Oil Rises and META, AVGO, CRM and AAPL Drop

The Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 and Dow-30 all fell Friday as energy prices continued rising amid signs that neither the U.S.-Israel-Iran war nor Tehran's attempts to block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz will end any time soon.

The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ shed 206.62 points (0.9%) to a 22,105.36 close, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ lost 40.43 ticks (0.6%) to 6,632.19 and the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ gave back 119.38 points (0.3%) to 46,558.47.

Macro

The three indexes eased as U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to indicate the war – which he had recently hinted could soon draw to a close – might actually continue for a while.

"We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today," the president wrote early Friday on social media.

The "plenty of time" comment seemed to point to the conflict not imminently ending.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources as saying the U.S. Navy is sending more warships – but not soon – to protect oil tankers that Iran is trying to block from crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait is a narrow waterway off of Iran's coast where tankers carrying some 20% of global oil supplies had routinely traveled until Tehran threatened to attack them as part of the conflict.

Sources told the Journal that U.S. warships will escort tankers through the strait, but not until America has reduced threats from Iran – which the Journal said could take a month or more.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to confirm to reporters Friday that the military escorts won't begin for some time.

"We want to do it sequentially in the way that makes the most sense for what we want to achieve," he said, without providing further details.

Such talk helped push oil prices higher Friday. $Crude Oil Futures (JUN6) (CLmain.US)$ gained 3.2% to $98.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at last check.

Higher oil prices can hurt stocks by forcing consumers and businesses to spend more on gasoline, electricity and heating/cooling over time, leaving less money for other items.

Rising energy costs can also create inflation or stagflation that could force the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates, making bonds and money markets more attractive and stocks less so.

Several Big Techs fell on Friday in part on such concerns.

Decliners included $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ (down 4.1%), $Salesforce (CRM.US)$ (off 3.2%), $Oracle (ORCL.US)$ (which gave up 2.5%), $Apple (AAPL.US)$ (down 2.21%) and $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ (2.2% lower). All are members of one or more of the DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Comp.

Meanwhile, $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ – an S&P 500 and Nasdaq Comp component – sank 3.8% heading into the close after the New York Times reported that the social-media giant has delayed its new artificial-intelligence agent.

The Times said META paused the tool's release after tests showed that it underperformed rival Gemini 3.0 from Google parent $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$.

In economic news, data released early Friday pointed to potentially emerging U.S. inflation or "stagflation," the combination of inflation plus weak growth at the same time.

The Commerce Department said its Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Fed's favorite inflation gauge, grew at a 2.8% rate in January. That's lower than the 2.9% that economists had expected, but still exceeded the Fed's 2% long-term inflation target.

Separately, Commerce reported that the U.S. economy grew at just a 0.7% rate in the fourth quarter, down from the 1.4% initially estimated.

Elsewhere in markets, cryptocurrencies rose slightly for a fifth day after generally trending lower on risk-off sentiment since the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict began.

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ rose 1.6% to $71,419.94 as of shortly before 4:30 p.m. New York time Friday, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ gained 2.2% to $2,111.72, $Solana (SOL.CC)$ improved by 2.8% to $89.04 and $Ripple (XRP.CC)$ added 1.7% to $1.40.

Moo-vers

Meanwhile, all of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks followed the broader market's lead and ended Friday's session lower.

$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ and $Apple (AAPL.US)$ led Mag-7 decliners with their previously noted declines of 3.8% and 2.21%, respectively.

Other Mag-7 decliners included $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ (1.59% lower), $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (1.58% weaker), $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ (down 1%), $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ (0.9% softer) and $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (off 0.4%).

Beyond the Mag-7, Friday's other noteworthy percentage losers included:

-- $Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI.US)$, down 8.8%. AAOI fell in part on word that it's doubled the size of an at-the-money secondary stock offering to up to $500 million of shares from a previously announced $250 million. The optical-equipment firm has also been pulling back sharply since hitting an all-time intraday high Wednesday following news earlier in the week of a $200 million+ order for transceivers.

-- $Adobe (ADBE.US)$, off 7.6%. The software giant sank on news that CEO Shantanu Narayen plans to retire after 18 years at the helm. That overshadowed word that ADBE's Q1 revenues and adjusted earnings beat analysts' estimates.

-- Select energy and defense/security stocks, which fell in continued up-and-down trading since the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict began on Feb. 28. Friday's oil decliners included micro-cap $Trio Petroleum (TPET.US)$ (down 14.1%), plus oil majors $Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$ (0.9% weaker) and $Chevron (CVX.US)$ (which eased 0.1%). Defense/security stocks to lose ground included $Red Cat Holdings (RCAT.US)$ (1.9% weaker), $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ (which lost 1.66%) and$Ondas (ONDS.US)$ (off 1.65%).

Conversely, Friday's significant percentage gainers included:

-- $PayPay (PAYP.US)$, up 16.4% to $21.14. The Japanese digital-payments platform rose for a second day following its initial public offering at $16 a share. The IPO priced below its expected $17-$20 range, but PAYP – which had pre-IPO backing from $SoftBank Group (ADR) (SFTBY.US)$ – has since risen 32.1% over two sessions. Mega-investor Cathie Wood also disclosed late Thursday that one of her Ark Invest funds bought $5 million of the stock after shares began trading publicly.

-- Certain Big Techs that bucked Friday's general market downtrend. Winners included $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ (up 6.9%), $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ (which added 5.1%), $NEBIUS (NBIS.US)$ (4.5% stronger), $CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ (1.6% stronger) and $Intel (INTC.US)$ (1.2% better).

Disclaimer: This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be directly invested in. Past performance is no indication of future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. It is provided without respect to individual investors' financial sophistication, financial situation, investment objectives, investing time horizon, or risk tolerance. You should consider the appropriateness of this information regarding your relevant personal circumstances before making any investment decisions. Past investment performance does not indicate or guarantee future success. Returns will vary, and all investments carry risks, including loss of principal.

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