Live Markets: Wall Street snaps its winning streak  with Iran uncertainty hurting sentiment

Apple

03/06/2026 21:34

Main US indexes pull back: Dow leads losses, off >1%
Energy leads S&P 500 sector gainers; Tech is weakest group
Dollar gains; US crude rises >2%; gold off >1%; bitcoin off >3%
US 10-year Treasury yield rises to ~4.49%
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WALL STREET SNAPS ITS WINNING STREAK WITH IRAN UNCERTAINTY HURTING SENTIMENT 
Wall Street's three major indexes ended lower on Wednesday, snapping their recent winning streaks with high oil prices keeping inflation worries elevated as progress on Middle East peace talks appeared to be in limbo.
 Recent days have brought contradictory messages regarding the U.S.-Iran peace process while they traded a new round of air strikes. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday that Tehran's contacts with Washington have not been cut off. But Araqchi said that no progress has been made in the negotiations, with both sides studying the texts that were exchanged.
With that,  the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq both snapped nine-session winning streaks. The Dow's .DJI decline followed a five-day advance. 
Among the benchmark index's 11 major industry sectors, six lost ground. Energy .SPNY, up 1.4%, was the biggest gainer with U.S. crude oil futures settling up 2.4%.  
Consumer discretionary .SPLRCD, technology .SPLRCT and financials .SPSY had been hanging out in the biggest laggards space during the session.
In the end technology led declines with a 1.5% loss followed by a 1.2% drop for financials and consumer discretionary's 1.1% loss. 
In technology, chips continued their rally with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX finishing up 1.4% and boasting its third closing record in a row. This was even as artificial intelligence chip leader Nvidia NVDA.O was the S&P 500's biggest drag with a 3.6% loss. In fact four of the benchmark's biggest drags were from the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap companies with Microsoft MSFT.O losing 3%, Apple AAPL.O dropping 1.6% and Amazon.com AMZN.O shedding 2.5%. 
Software was a notable laggard for the second straight day with the S&P 500 software & services index .SPLRCIS dropping 3.9% as investors appeared to take profits after a recent three-day rally.
One of the biggest decliners in the consumer sector was Ulta Beauty ULTA.O, which lost 4.8%.
Multiple brokerages cut their price targets for Ulta even though the cosmetics company raised its annual profit forecast and beat first-quarter estimates. For example, UBS analyst Michael Lasser cut his 12-month target for the stock to $735 from $810 even as the analyst said he remained bullish in a research note titled: "Isn't the mascara still at least half full?"  
Here is your closing snapshot: 
     
(Sinéad Carew)
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