Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday, weighed by higher oil prices, as traders followed the latest developments out of the Middle East.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 344 points, or 0.7%.
Crude prices rose on Thursday, putting pressure on equities. Brent futures jumped 3.8% to $106.07 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 3.5% to $93.45.
Iran’s foreign minister reportedly told state media on Wednesday that top authorities in the Middle Eastern nation are reviewing an American proposal to end the war, but Tehran has no intention of having talks with the U.S.
On Thursday, however, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that Iran “better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty.”
Gulf countries also issued a joint statement Thursday condemning Iran’s “criminal” strikes on their energy infrastructure. They added that they are ready to defend themselves going forward. “While we value our fraternal relations with the Republic of Iraq, we call on the Iraqi government to take the necessary measures to immediately halt the attacks … toward neighboring countries,” the joint statement.
Wall Street is coming off a winning session, putting the major averages on track for a winning week. But Kate Moore, chief investment officer of Citi Wealth, believes that investors seem too sanguine that a resolution is coming.
“Some of the price action we’ve experienced, especially in the last two trading days, is basically showing, I think, a huge amount of optimism that we’re going to have a resolution and not a broad-based inflationary impact from the shock in energy,” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “That makes me a little bit nervous, if I’m honest.”
“I want to be very, very thoughtful about how we construct portfolios because we want to build for resilience right now, and we want to make sure that we’re shored up against both the inflationary risks and what might be more kind of prolonged conflict than I think the optimists in the markets were pricing in today,” she added.
—CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed reporting.

