US equity indices slipped on Tuesday as rising geopolitical tensions prompted global investors to scale back equity exposure. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq 100 each declined by roughly 0.5%. Reports of US strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island intensified the conflict, amplifying concerns over potential further attacks on Iran threatened by President Trump, while Tehran continued to restrict tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Risk-off sentiment hit technology shares particularly hard, weighing on demand for more speculative segments of the market. Nvidia, AMD, and Micron each fell by around 1%, while Tesla dropped more than 2%. At the same time, renewed inflation concerns driven by another session of rising oil prices pressured financials, with JPMorgan and Bank of America both losing over 0.5%.
In contrast, Broadcom outperformed, climbing more than 1.5% after announcing a long-term agreement with Alphabet to supply tensor processing units (TPUs).
