US benchmark equity indexes were lower ahead of Thursday's close while oil surged amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6% at 41,958.4, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,690.8. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2% to 17,890.8. Among sectors, consumer discretionary saw the steepest decline, while energy led the gainers.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was soaring 5.4% at $73.86 a barrel amid elevated Middle East tensions. In response to a question by reporters whether the US would support Israeli striking Iranian oil facilities, President Joe Biden said, 'We're in discussion of that.' There have been concerns that Israel could strike Iran's oil industry in retaliation for Tehran's missile attack earlier in the week.
The US two-year yield rose 6.6 basis points to 3.70%, while the 10-year rate increased 5.9 basis points to 3.84%. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are expected to show Friday that the US economy added 150,000 nonfarm jobs last month, which would mark an acceleration from a 142,000 gain posted for August, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg..