U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Lower As Clock Ticks Down On Trump's Iran Deadline

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday, giving back ground after ending Monday's relatively lackluster session mostly higher. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a notable decline.

Currently, the major averages are well off their lows of the session but still firmly in the red. The Nasdaq is down 270.14 points or 1.2 percent at 21,726.20, the S&P 500 is down 47.96 points or 0.7 percent at 6,563.87 and the Dow is down 205.66 points or 0.4 percent at 46,464.22.

The weakness on Wall Street comes as trader are keeping a close even on developments in the Middle East as an 8 pm ET deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump approaches.

Trump has threatened to attack Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to reach a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial global energy route.

Continuing to ramp up his rhetoric, Trump warned in a recent post on Truth Social, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."

The president claimed that a "different, smarter, and less radicalized" regime is now in charge of Iran and suggested something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.

"WHO KNOWS?" Trump posted, adding to uncertainty on Wall Street. "We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World."

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods slumped by much more than expected in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.4 percent in February after falling by a revised 0.5 percent in January.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the unchanged reading that had been reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Airline stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.8 percent.

Considerable weakness is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

Pharmaceutical, software and biotechnology stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while energy stocks are moving higher along with the price of crude oil.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed just above the unchanged line, while China's Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.6 basis points at 4.361 percent.