Dow Jones leads Wall Street lower at the open, US-Iran fears drive oil higher

US stocks kicked disconnected Thursday’s league little arsenic geopolitical tensions continued to nonstop lipid prices higher.

The Dow Jones fell 0.5% astatine 49,425 points, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% astatine 6,863 points, and the Nasdaq was down 0.2% astatine 22,704 points.

Meanwhile, archetypal jobless claims for the week ending February 14 saw their largest driblet since November, the Department of Labor said. Claims fell 23,000 to 206,000, beneath expectations of 225,000.

Continuing claims, which correspond radical who proceed to person benefits, accrued by 17,000 from the erstwhile week to 1.87 million.

US banal futures fell connected Thursday arsenic rising fears of a subject onslaught connected Iran pushed lipid prices sharply higher, portion investors digested cautious signals from Federal Reserve minutes.

Contracts connected the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.3% and 0.2% respectively, reversing earlier gains, with Dow Jones futures besides sliding 0.25% aft coagulated gains crossed large benchmarks the erstwhile session.

Brent crude climbed supra $71 a tube and West Texas Intermediate neared $66 pursuing a study from Axios, the quality website, that the Trump medication is edging toward struggle with Iran, fuelling the biggest regular leap successful lipid prices since October, portion golden roseate backmost supra $5,000 an ounce.

Minutes from the Fed's January argumentation gathering revealed heavy divisions implicit involvement rates, with immoderate policymakers floating the anticipation of hikes amid persistently precocious inflation.

Walmart, the retail giant, posted humble fourth-quarter net beats nether its caller main executive, but shares fell astir 3% successful premarket trading arsenic investors scrutinised the company's vacation income performance.