US stock market today: Dow Jones flat, while NASDAQ and S&P 500 slide as oil prices and bond yields surge

The US stock markets opened in the deep red on Thursday as crude oil prices soared over 5%. The Treasury yields touched previous peaks of over 5.3%, souring investor sentiment. The Dow Jones opened over 100 points lower, alleviating some tensions, while the NASDAQ 100 plunged 1% and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%.

Crude oil prices erased all the losses made this week, surging from -4% losses on Tuesday to +2.5% gains on Thursday as uncertainty in the Middle East region escalated. President Trump on Wednesday said that he is not interested in any deal with Iran.

Furthermore, reports also cited that White House has asked the Pentagon to provide options for a strike on Iran. Consequently, Brent crude oil prices surged over 5% to trade at $105 per barrel, while WTI crude oil prices also crossed $100 per barrel.

Meanwhile, investors also turned cautious after FOMC minutes hinted at one more rate hike in December and a continued hawkish stance in 2027, depending on the data. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 basis points at the September meeting.

At the stock-specific level, the megacap stocks posted a mixed bag performance, with Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Meta Platforms trading in the green, while SpaceX, NVIDIA, and Amazon Inc. traded in the red.

Meanwhile, shares of PepsiCo Inc. surged over 2.3% at $126 per share on the NYSE after the company beat third-quarter estimates at $2.34 per share EPS of $2.30 per share. However, the company trimmed its full-year growth outlook.

Similarly, shares of Shell Plc and Chevron Inc surged as much as 3.4% on Thursday as they initiated the evacuation process from the offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a tropical storm in the region. 21.4% of the total oil production was curbed from the region due to the onslaught of the storm.