Wall Street.
The U.S. stock market closed with mixed results.
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by over 1% and the S&P 500 finished slightly higher, the Nasdaq composite edged down.
By sector, consumer staples and healthcare gained over 2%, whereas technology stocks weakened by more than 1%.
Easing tensions in the Middle East drove oil prices and Treasury yields lower, providing strong momentum for economically sensitive stocks.
Following reports that Iran was discussing navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz with Saudi Arabia and Oman, West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 4% to settle in the 79 dollar range, while Brent crude fell 4.8% to close in the 84 dollar range.
Meanwhile, amid the sluggishness of large-cap tech stocks, consumer staples and financials with strong earnings defended the indices. Coca-Cola surged more than 5% after reporting better-than-expected earnings and raising its annual outlook, and buying pressure flowed into financial stocks, centered on insurers.
On the other hand, artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related shares remained under pressure amid news that China has begun mass-producing its own photolithography equipment.
Micron Technology plunged by over 8%, and AMD also dropped more than 8%.
Amid these trends, Apple surpassed a market capitalization of 5 trillion dollars for the first time during intraday trading, as attention was drawn to its strategy of lowering capital expenditures by utilizing Google's technology rather than making massive independent investments.
Market attention is now turning to the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate decision and earnings announcements from major tech giants, scheduled for 3:00 AM tomorrow (the 30th) Korea time.
With a rate freeze widely expected, the future direction of monetary policy and earnings results are anticipated to determine whether technology stocks will see further declines.
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