Stocks Fall as Middle East War Escalates, S&P 500 Drops Over 0.5%
Stocks fell as markets continue to be rocked by the war in the Middle East, which entered its sixth day and has boosted oil and gas prices. Benchmark U.S. oil prices hit $81 per barrel and bonds slid as headlines continued to depict war escalating in Iran and the Middle East. The S&P 500 lost over 0.5% and the Dow fell almost 2% as Bloomberg also reported that U.S. officials have written draft regulations that would restrict AI chip shipments to anywhere in the world without American approval.Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:Broadcomrallied after the company said it expects artificial intelligence chip sales toin 2027OpenAI toppedas of end of last month, The Information reportsKrogerreported, but gave a FY26 EPS outlook range that missed consensus at the midpoint24 states haveto block his latest round of tariffsNetflixthe acquisition of InterPositive, a filmmaking technology company founded by Ben Affleck2. WALL STREET CALLS:Meta Platformsto Neutral from Buy at AreteScotiabankMongoDBto Outperform following its post-earnings selloffPenn Entertainmentto Buy at BenchmarkBernsteinCoreWeaveat Underperform on hyperscaler competition riskJPMorgan and WedbushStubHubto Neutral after its earnings miss and guidance reset3. AROUND THE WEB:White House officials have drafted regulations that would require companies to seek U.S. permission for virtually all exports of AI accelerators from companies like Nvidiaand AMD, Bloomberg saysAlibabasaid it would set up a new task force to accelerate foundation model development, following the resignation of its Qwen AI division head Lin Junyang, Reuters reportsOracleplans thousands of job cuts, Bloomberg reportsNvidiahas stopped production of its second-most advanced artificial intelligence chips intended for the Chinese market, FT reportsSonyno longer plans to release its big single-player PlayStation 5 games on PC, a major strategy shift that sees it returning to console exclusivity, Bloomberg says4. MOVERS:Tango Therapeuticsgained after reportingand entering a clinical collaboration agreement with ErascaPalladyne AIadvanced afterfor FY26StubHubQ4 GMS and revenue about 7% below consensus estimates, while the FY26 outlook for GMS and EBITDA came in "well below" estimatesGrocery Outletfell after reportingand providing an update on its restructuring planPepGendeclined after announcing the FDA placed aon a Phase 2 trial of PGN-EDODM15. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:BJ's Wholesalereported, with EPS and revenue beating consensusJD.comreported, with CEO Sandy Xu "pleased to close out 2026 with fourth quarter results in line with expectations"American Eaglereported what Telsey Advisory said wereVictoria's Secretreported, with CEO Hillary Super commenting, "We delivered an exceptional fourth quarter and a standout year"Cienareportedand provided guidance for Q2INDEXES:The Dow fell 784.67, or 1.61%, to 47,954.74, the Nasdaq lost 58.50, or 0.26%, to 22,748.99, and the S&P 500 declined 38.79, or 0.56%, to 6,830.71.
