Stocks fell and oil prices rose near $80 a barrel Monday after President Trump announced a new blockade and tolls on the Strait of Hormuz while investors remained jittery about tech stocks – signaling more bouts of choppy trading could be in store.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152 points, or 0.3%, by approximately 12:50 p.m. ET, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slid 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively – led by steep declines in chipmakers and AI-exposed stocks.
In a Truth Social post Monday morning, Trump said the strait is open – but announced, “We are reinstating the [sic] THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.”
“The USA will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped.”
The announcement – after the US and Iran exchanged fresh rounds of strikes over the weekend – reheated fears that the world’s worst-ever energy supply disruption could last for weeks or months longer without a permanent peace deal, driving prices higher.
Brent crude oil rose 5.5% to $80.15 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate jumped 5.1% to $75.08.
National average gasoline prices were $3.87 a gallon as of Monday, down from highs of $4.56 a gallon this spring – but the decline in gasoline has slowed over the past few weeks as the US and Iran disagree over the control of the strait.
Meanwhile, chipmakers extended their losses – and SpaceX and SK Hynix saw declines after their record-breaking IPOs – as investors worry companies may be overspending on the new tech, creating an “AI bubble.”
“I expect choppier trading in AI and semiconductor stocks over the next several weeks,” Scott Martin, partner at Kingsview Wealth Management, told The Post – nodding to dual pressures from tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and an AI trade coming off an extraordinary run.
However, he argued investors should not necessarily take the downturn as a sign that the AI trade is doomed.
“Markets that reach record highs rarely move in a straight line, and profit-taking after a rally like this is healthy, not necessarily troublesome,” Martin said. “I don’t view this as the beginning of a broad market collapse, but investors should expect more volatility as earnings season unfolds.”
The major question top of mind for investors, he said, is not whether AI spending can eventually lead to long-term growth, but whether current earnings can justify how much and how fast companies are spending.
US-listed shares of SK Hynix fell 6.8% after soaring 13% on Friday in their debut on the Nasdaq. South Korean shares in the company also plunged.
Shares of SpaceX – which last month broke the record for the largest-ever IPO – slipped for a second trading day, falling 4.3% to $139.02 – nearing its initial $135 price.
Chipmakers including Micron, Sandisk, AMD, Intel and Samsung slumped 5.2%,12.2%, 3.7%, 5.9% and 10.7%, respectively.
Ahead of what is expected to be a blowout earnings week, US banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo dipped 0.7%, 1%, 1.2%, 0.7%, 1.7% and 0.2%, respectively.
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