NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks held steady near records as oil prices retreated on hopes for a US-Iran agreement to end the war in the Middle East.
The United States is waiting for Iran to respond to its latest proposed deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway in petroleum transport.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at records Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran was “very possible,” but threatened more bombing if negotiations collapse.
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About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 49,958.88.
The broad based S&P 500 was flat at 7,363.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite index edged up 0.1 percent to 25,856.51.
Data showed a modest increase in weekly unemployment claims, suggestive of “a labor market that’s more than holding its own despite over two months of conflict with Iran,” said Oxford Economics.
Among individual companies, Whirlpool fell 12.4 percent as it reported an $85 million loss on lower sales, saying that the Iran war “resulted in recession-level industry decline in the US as consumer confidence collapsed in late February and March.”
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