New Telegraph

Nasdaq Leads Stock Declines While Oil Spikes On Iran Attack

US stocks slid on Tuesday after Iran fired over 100 ballistic missiles at Israel, pushing oil prices for West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) and Brent (BZ=F) to their biggest increases in nearly a year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was just below the flat line, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.6 per cent after both major indexes capped last month — and quarter — with fresh record highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost more than 1.1 per cent. Meanwhile, new jobs and manufacturing data kicked off the new quarter as investors searched for further clues on the future of the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle after Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted the central bank is not in a rush to rapidly cut rates.

Job openings surprisingly increased in August, furthering the narrative that while the labor market is cooling, it’s not rapidly slowing. New data showed there were 8.04 million jobs open at the end of August, an increase from the 7.71 million seen in July.

US manufacturing held steady in September. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its manufacturing PMI was unchanged at 47.2 last month. Despite holding steady, the reading still came in weak, as a PMI below 50 indicates a contraction in the manufacturing sector.

Read more: What the Fed rate cut means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards The data sets investors up for Friday’s Sep – tember jobs report, the highlight in a week full of closely watched economic data.

Investors are watching for confirmation that the US economy is cooling, rather than crumbling. In other news, a strike by dockworkers began on the East and Gulf coasts, threatening to halt the flow of half the US’s ocean shipping.

Disruption from the large-scale stoppage could cost the economy billions of dollars a day, stoke inflation, put jobs at risk, and reverberate through US politics.

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