US-Iran Tensions Spark Market Volatility as Oil Prices Soar

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell sharply on Monday as US-Iran tensions escalated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined, while Brent crude prices surged above $80 per barrel.

US President Donald Trump announced a blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which stoked inflation worries and raised bets for an interest rate hike. Meta Platforms' plans to spend $40 billion on its data center campus in Louisiana were overshadowed by market volatility.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) dropped 0.8%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell around 2% lower, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) lost 4%. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) slipped about 2.2% due to weakness in Nvidia (NVDA), Meta (META), and Tesla (TSLA).