US Stocks Fall Amid Geopolitical Tensions

NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- United States (US) stocks closed lower on Thursday, leaving the S&P 500 virtually flat for the year to date, as investors remained cautious over escalating tensions between the US and Iran and digested a batch of mixed economic data, reported Xinhua.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 267.5 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 49,395.16. The S&P 500 sank 19.42 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 6,861.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 70.91 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 22,682.73.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with financials and consumer discretionary leading the laggards by going down 0.86 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, utilities and industrials led the gainers by rising 1.13 per cent and 0.77 per cent, respectively.

Crude oil prices extended gains amid the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, after US President Donald Trump stated that Iran has 10 to 15 days to reach a deal over its nuclear programme, otherwise "really bad things" will happen.

Walmart dipped 1.38 per cent despite reporting strong fiscal year sales growth of US$713.2 billion.

The figure fell just short of Amazon's US$716.9 billion in annual revenues, marking the first time Amazon has surpassed Walmart as the company with the largest annual revenues.

Carvana skidded nearly eight per cent after the online used-car retailer missed estimates on key profitability metrics in its latest quarterly report.

DoorDash rose 1.62 per cent, buoyed by the food-delivery platform's forecast that users would spend more on its service this quarter than analysts had anticipated.

Big technology stocks traded mixed amid reports that OpenAI is nearing the close of a US$100 billion funding round.

Apple fell nearly 1.5 per cent, while Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Tesla posted modest changes.

The US posted a record US$1.24 trillion trade deficit in goods in 2025, up 2.1 per cent from the previous year, according to data released Thursday by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The US initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 14 fell to a seasonally adjusted 206,000, down 23,000 from the prior week.

Market participants continue to monitor geopolitical developments in the Middle East and await further inflation data, including the December personal consumption expenditures price index due Friday.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA