The three major indexes on Wall Street closed lower as the United States and Iran engaged in a war of nerves over resuming end-of-war talks.
On the 20th (Eastern time), on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished transaction at 49,442.56, down 4.87 points (0.01%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 16.92 points (0.24%) to 7,109.14, and the Nasdaq composite ended down 64.09 points (0.26%) at 24,404.39.
Wall Street was affected by the recent escalation of tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran declared a full reopening of the strait on the 17th, but moved to reimpose a blockade over the weekend. Earlier, the U.S. military, which had declared a "counter-blockade," used force the previous day to seize an Iranian cargo ship that was attempting to break the Iranian maritime blockade.
The second round of end-of-war talks between the United States and Iran also not proceeding smoothly weighed on stocks. U.S. President Donald Trump said the negotiating team was headed to Islamabad and noted that "talks will begin on the 21st," and U.S. Vice President JD Vance was also set to join in Pakistan in the afternoon.
However, Pakistan is presenting a precondition that the U.S. military must lift the Iranian maritime blockade to resume talks. Iran is also strongly protesting the seizure of its cargo ship and is continually expressing distrust toward the United States.
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked again, international oil prices surged, but did not cross the psychological support level of $100 per barrel. Brent crude futures for June delivery rose 5.64% from the previous session to $95.48 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for May delivery ended transaction at $89.61 per barrel, up 6.87%.
Among mega-cap tech stocks with a market capitalization of $1 trillion or more, only Apple and Nvidia rose slightly. In contrast, Meta, Tesla, Broadcom, Alphabet, and Microsoft fell about 2%. In particular, Apple said that current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook will move to the role of chair and that John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, will be appointed the next CEO.