U.S. Stocks End Tuesday in Negative

(MENAFN) U.S. equities closed sharply lower Tuesday, though markets clawed back from far steeper intraday losses, as the widening military conflict in the Middle East rattled investor confidence and sent volatility surging to a three-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.83 percent to 48,501.27, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.94 percent to 6,816.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.02 percent to close at 22,516.69. All 11 primary S&P 500 sectors finished in negative territory, with materials and industrials bearing the heaviest losses — tumbling 2.69 percent and 1.96 percent, respectively. Financials proved the most resilient, slipping just 0.18 percent.

Fear gripped trading floors as investors weighed the risk of deeper military entanglement in the region. Wall Street’s foremost anxiety barometer, the Cboe Volatility Index, surged 9.93 percent, hitting its loftiest reading in three months.

Energy markets told a different story. Both global benchmark Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished more than 4.5 percent higher, well off their intraday peaks but still representing a substantial single-session advance. The initial price spike briefly drove U.S. Treasury yields upward on fears that a prolonged energy shock could reignite inflation and complicate the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate path — though yields later retreated alongside cooling oil prices.

Despite the turbulence, some market watchers urged against reading the moves as full-blown panic. Catalyst Funds CIO David Miller framed the selloff as a recalibration of expectations rather than a fundamental reassessment.

“Those aren’t moves that suggest investors believe this will have a significant long-term impact on equity markets,” he said. “If that were the case, you’d likely see 5 percent types of decline. It seems more like investors are adjusting expectations from a very short conflict, something that wraps up quickly, to one that could last several weeks.”

Major U.S. energy companies — including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, and Phillips 66 — reversed Monday’s gains to close in the red. Defense contractors Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman also edged lower after surging the previous session.

On the earnings front, Target shares jumped 6.74 percent after the retailer delivered full-year profit and revenue guidance that topped market forecasts. Elsewhere, Plug Power soared 23.2 percent, while MongoDB collapsed 22.24 percent as a leadership overhaul and cautious near-term outlook triggered a dramatic selloff that analysts said did not reflect the company’s underlying results.

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