Dow Closes Down 652.82 Points as WTI Settles at $103.27 and Brent Hits Its Highest Since April 29

After sliding as much as 800 points during Friday's session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 652.82 points, or 1.23%, at 52,215.16. The S&P 500 fell 0.52% to 7,623.68. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.21% to 25,955.34.

The Dow still finished the week up 0.4%. The S&P 500 lost 0.5% on the week and the Nasdaq shed 0.7%.

Oil closes at its highest since April

West Texas Intermediate settled at $103.27 a barrel, up 3.8%. Brent settled at $116.72, up 3.14%, its highest close since April 29. Brent ended the week up 6% and WTI up 2.3%. Front-month WTI is up about 14% for the month.

The S&P 500 energy sector rose 2.5% and hit a record high. Chevron was among the Dow's biggest gainers.

Two threads fed the move. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the U.S. and Israel were planning strikes on Iran after the midterm elections. On Friday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in a post on X that Iran was preparing for fresh attacks. Iran has said it is ready to strike back if the U.S. and Israel resume attacks on Tehran.

Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia added to supply fears. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates also reported an oil spill.

Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said oil appeared to be the driver of Friday's losses.

Tech steadies, the rest of the market slips

Thursday's sell-off was the Nasdaq 100's worst day since June, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped 6%. Chip stocks bounced on Friday. Micron gained nearly 3% and AMD almost 2%. Microsoft rose 0.7%, while Meta closed down 1%.

The damage moved to other sectors instead. Consumer staples, utilities and healthcare all fell. Caterpillar dropped about 2% and Goldman Sachs more than 1%.

"For the last two weeks, investors have been sprinting from tech stocks and data center beneficiary stocks to safe stuff, and eventually, you run out of people willing to do that sprint, and that's what today looks like and feels like," said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. He said this season's tech earnings have been good and argued investors should lean less on emotion.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said anxiety over the AI trade lingers after Meta's report.

American Express cuts 5% of staff

American Express fell 3.7%, the worst performer in the Dow. The company said it is cutting about 5% of its global workforce. CFO Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the goal is to be "leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI."

AmEx had nearly 77,000 employees at the end of 2025. That implies roughly 3,850 job cuts, by Kiplinger's math.

The cut came alongside strong earnings. Third-quarter net income rose to $3.7 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier, and earnings per share climbed 31% to $5.42. Excluding a $982 million pre-tax gain from selling its stake in Global Business Travel Group, adjusted net income was $3.2 billion, or $4.68 per share.

Yields hover at 5%

The 10-year Treasury yield ended at about 5%. CNBC and Sharecast put it at 4.999% and Kiplinger at 5.001%. It had dipped under 5% on Thursday for the first time in a month, in what Reuters called its biggest one-day drop in nearly four years.

The 2-year closed near 4.69% and the 30-year near 5.33%. Investors have grown wary of the borrowing used to finance AI data centers.

JoAnne Bianco of BondBloxx Investment Management pointed to "sticky inflation" as a continuing headwind.

Consumers and the Fed

The economy is sending mixed signals. S&P Global's flash manufacturing PMI rose to 56.0 from 55.9, a 53-month high. Services activity eased to 57.9 from 58.8. Selling-price inflation hit its fastest pace since August 2022.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped 0.2% to 48. That is 10% below a year ago and 15% below February, just before the Iran conflict began. Oxford Economics' Sara Godfrey blamed higher interest rates and gas prices. AAA put regular gasoline at $4.29 a gallon, more than $1 above last year. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.32% last week.

The Fed's October meeting concludes Wednesday afternoon. Policymakers are widely expected to hold rates steady. BMO Chief Economist Douglas Porter said recent inflation readings have been "on the warm side," especially at the producer level, though Fed speakers have signaled no rush to hike. He still expects increases in December and March.

About one-third of S&P 500 companies report next week, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon. Their capital spending forecasts will be watched as closely as their profits.