NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. stocks are falling Friday as Wall Street stumbles toward the finish of a fifth straight losing week, which would be its longest such streak in nearly four years.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 sank 0.7% and deepened its losses a day after its worst drop<\/a> since the war with Iran<\/a> began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 319 points, or 0.7%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% lower.<\/p>\n The losses are a break from Wall Street\u2019s pattern this week, where the U.S. stock market flip-flopped from gains to losses each day as hopes rose<\/a> and fell<\/a> about a possible end to the war. <\/p>\n Moments after the U.S. stock market finished trading on Thursday, President Donald Trump offered more potential for hope. He extended a self-imposed deadline to \u201cobliterate\u201d Iran\u2019s power plants to April 6 if it doesn\u2019t fully allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> to the open ocean. <\/p>\n Oil prices eased immediately afterward in a sign of hope that some normalcy may return to the strait. It was similar to the optimism that swept global markets after Trump said Monday, just before Wall Street opened for trading, that the United States and Iran had held productive talks. <\/p>\n But oil prices resumed their climb as trading moved westward from Asia to Europe and back to Wall Street on Friday. Despite Trump\u2019s latest announcement of a delay, fighting continued in the Middle East. Iran gave no signs of backing down, while Israel threatened to \u201cescalate and expand\u201d its attacks<\/a> on Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe diplomatic dissonance this week between the U.S. and Iran dismayed investors,\u201d said Doug Beath, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. \u201cBy the end of the week, risk appetite could not withstand the fog of war.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAny further statements by Trump about a deal are white noise to the markets,\u201d Jim Bianco, president and macro strategist at Bianco Research, wrote in a social media post. \u201cOnly if the IRANIANS say the talks are going well will it impact markets.\u201d <\/p>\n The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.3% to $103.24 and is up from roughly $70 before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 3.3% to $97.64 per barrel. <\/p>\n The fear in financial markets is that the war will disrupt the Persian Gulf\u2019s energy industry for a long time. It could keep so much oil and natural gas out of the world\u2019s markets that it sends a punishing wave of inflation through the global economy. <\/p>\n Not only would it raise prices for drivers buying gasoline, it could push businesses that use any trucks, ships or planes to move their products to raise their own prices<\/a>. It would also make electricity from gas-fired power plants more expensive.<\/p>\n If the war continues until the end of June, strategists at Macquarie say the price of oil could reach $200 per barrel. The record is just above $147, reached during the summer of 2008. That\u2019s when Iran\u2019s testing of missiles, including one that could reach Israel, and strong demand for oil from China helped send prices spiking despite the Great Recession.<\/p>\n High gasoline prices and the war are already hitting confidence among U.S. consumers, whose spending makes up the bulk of the economy. Sentiment among them fell slightly more in March from February than economists expected, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n U.S. consumers also said in the survey they\u2019re worried about inflation jumping in the near future. They\u2019re bracing for inflation of 3.8% in the coming 12 months, up from 3.4% in February. It\u2019s the largest one-month increase in nearly a year.<\/p>\n On Wall Street, the majority of stocks fell, including three out of every five in the S&P 500. The index, which is the main measure of the U.S. stock market\u2019s health, is nearly 8% below its all-time high set early this year. <\/p>\n Big Tech stocks were among the heaviest weights on the market, including drops of 3.1% for Amazon and 3.5% for Meta Platforms. <\/p>\n Companies selling things that are not essentials, which customers could stop buying if they\u2019re spending too much on gasoline, also sank sharply.<\/p>\n Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings lost 4.2%, Airbnb fell 4.6% and Lululemon Athletica dropped 3.5%.<\/p>\n Among the winners on Wall Street was Netflix, which added 0.3% a day after announcing price increases to its services in the United States. <\/p>\n In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n In the bond market, Treasury yields swiveled.<\/p>\n The yield for the 10-year Treasury rose as high as 4.48% before pulling back to to 4.41%. That\u2019s down from 4.42% late Thursday, but it\u2019s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war began. <\/p>\n The rise since the war\u2019s start has already sent rates jumping for mortgages<\/a> and for other loans taken by U.S. households and businesses, slowing the economy. <\/p>\n