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Stocks were choppy Thursday as market participants weighed growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran and the latest batch of corporate earnings reports. Weakness in financial and tech stocks also kept pressure on the main indexes, with all three ending the day in the red.
At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5% at 49,395, the broader S&P 500 was 0.3% lower at 6,861, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was off 0.3% at 22,682.
Geopolitical worries ramped up after President Donald Trump said today that he will decide within the next 10 days whether to launch military strikes against Iran.
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Speaking during the first meeting of his recently established Board of Peace, Trump said that it’s been shown over the years that it’s “not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran.” He added, “We have to make a meaningful deal, otherwise bad things happen.”
The U.S. has been building up its presence in the Middle East, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that it is “assembling the greatest amount of air power in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”
This comes as representatives from both countries met in Geneva earlier this week to discuss Iran’s nuclear programs, with the White House saying there has been “a little bit of progress,” but adding that they’re still “very far apart on some issues.”
The uncertainty sent oil prices higher, with U.S. crude futures settling up 1.9% at $66.43 per barrel.
Walmart slips despite earnings beat, dividend hike
In single-stock news, Walmart (WMT) erased an early lead to finish the day down 1.4% after the Dow Jones stock reported earnings.
While the world’s largest retailer beat on the top and bottom lines for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, it forecast earnings per share of $2.75 to 2.85 for fiscal 2027, below Wall Street’s estimates.
“The concern here,” explains Brian Mulberry, senior client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, “is that the U.S. consumer is showing signs of weakness (most recent retail sales report was flat) and spending could begin to soften.”
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However, Mulberry adds that Walmart has given conservative guidance before as management “sets the bar a little lower for various reasons, making the next quarter’s earnings a little easier to surprise to the upside.”
Walmart also said its board of directors approved a 5.3% hike to its dividend. The retailer has long been one of the best dividend stocks for dependable dividend growth, having increased its payout 53 years in a row.
Klarna has its worst day ever after earnings
Elsewhere on the earnings calendar, Klarna Group (KLAR) plunged 26.9% – its worst day ever – after the Swedish buy now, pay later firm disclosed its fourth-quarter results.
Klarna said revenue jumped 38% year over year to $1.08 billion, marking the company’s first billion-dollar quarter, while gross merchandise volume – a key sales metric for fintech and retail firms – rose 32% to $38.7 billion. Both figures came in higher than Wall Street expected.
But the company’s guidance for first-quarter revenue of $940 million and GMV of $32.5 billion at the midpoint is below analysts’ estimates.
Klarna has struggled since its blowout IPO in September, shedding more than 65% and closing today at its lowest price to date.
Deere has its best day since 2020 after earnings
Deere (DE), on the other hand, had its best single-day performance since March 24, 2020, rising 11.6% after the farm equipment manufacturer’s beat-and-raise quarter.
DE reported higher-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings of $2.42 per share on revenue of $9.6 billion, and raised its fiscal 2026 net income forecast to a range of $4.5 billion to $5 billion.
“While the global large agriculture industry continues to experience challenges, we’re encouraged by the ongoing recovery in demand within both the construction and small agriculture segments,” said Deere CEO John May.