Dow Falls Nearly 500 Points as Trump Declares Iran Ceasefire 'Over,' Sending Oil Prices Surging Wednesday

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell sharply Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 499.40 points, or 0.94 percent, to 52,425.75, after President Donald Trump declared that the ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran was "over," reigniting geopolitical tensions that sent oil prices surging and rattled global markets.

Speaking in Ankara, Turkey, ahead of a NATO summit, Trump said the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran had collapsed following a fresh exchange of strikes between the two countries. "As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them," Trump said of Iran's leadership. He went further in later remarks, calling Iran's leaders "sick" and accusing them of "killing people," while adding that Iran "can't have a nuclear weapon." Referring to Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, killed in a 2020 U.S. strike, Trump said, "They've killed thousands and thousands of our soldiers."

The renewed hostilities followed American airstrikes carried out late Tuesday against multiple targets inside Iran, in response to what the U.S. military described as Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded by striking American military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, according to Iranian state media, further escalating the standoff just as the U.S. Treasury Department revoked a license that had permitted Iran to export oil globally.

The combination of military escalation and renewed sanctions pressure sent energy markets sharply higher. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped as much as 6.2 percent to $74.79 a barrel in premarket trading, while Brent crude surged 6.1 percent to $78.66 a barrel. Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, said the move reflected traders rebuilding risk premium that had largely evaporated in recent weeks. "Rebounding as traders begin to rebuild some of the geopolitical premium that had been almost entirely erased in recent weeks," Hathorn said, adding, "That does not necessarily imply a sustained rally in crude, but it does challenge the view that downside risks had become dominant."

Wednesday's selloff extended a difficult stretch for U.S. equities that began Tuesday, when renewed weakness in semiconductor stocks pulled the Nasdaq Composite down 1.16 percent even as the Dow had briefly touched a fresh record high earlier in the session before closing 0.25 percent lower at 52,925.15. That pullback was driven in part by a disappointing market reaction to record quarterly earnings from Samsung Electronics, along with a Reuters report indicating Chinese AI company DeepSeek is developing its own semiconductor chip to compete with Nvidia and other established chipmakers.

Technology shares continued to struggle Wednesday amid the combined pressure of geopolitical risk and ongoing chip-sector jitters. Amazon fell 1.7 percent to $241.85, Apple slipped 0.37 percent to $309.52, IBM tumbled 3.3 percent to $296.03, Nvidia declined 1.7 percent to $193.68, and Palantir dropped 3.1 percent to $130.15 in premarket trading, according to market data. The VIX, Wall Street's primary volatility gauge, jumped nearly 8 percent to 17.40, reflecting heightened investor anxiety heading into the session. Gold, often viewed as a safe-haven asset during periods of geopolitical stress, fell 1.75 percent to $4,084.80 an ounce, a move some analysts attributed to profit-taking following recent gains rather than reduced demand for safety.

The market turbulence extended well beyond Wall Street. South Korea's KOSPI index fell into bear market territory Wednesday, down more than 20 percent from its recent high after losing over 5 percent in a single session, continuing a rout triggered by Tuesday's disappointing reaction to Samsung's earnings. Even after the sharp pullback, the KOSPI remains the best-performing major stock index globally so far in 2026, according to market data, underscoring the scale of the index's earlier rally driven by memory chip stocks.

Not every stock moved lower Wednesday. Walmart shares climbed 0.8 percent after the retailer said it would cut prices on select items, including ground beef and Coca-Cola. Cognizant Technology Solutions jumped 6.2 percent after deepening its partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate rollout of Gemini AI capabilities. Apple was also in focus after CNBC reported the company is expanding its partnership with chipmaker Broadcom in a multiyear deal expected to exceed $30 billion, marking Apple's largest U.S. manufacturing commitment to date and covering production of more than 15 billion U.S.-made chips, including a $1.5 billion expansion of a Broadcom facility in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Elsewhere in corporate news, Rivian Automotive shares fell as much as 18.1 percent after the electric vehicle maker moved to sell 75 million Class A shares, diluting existing shareholders despite the company's stronger-than-expected delivery figures from the prior week. Ondas Holdings shares sank 6 percent after the company raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $525 million from $390 million following the close of its $200 million cash-and-stock acquisition of DZYNE, though defense-adjacent drone stocks broadly sold off Wednesday, dragging down names including AeroVironment and Kratos.

Tuesday's session had also featured the debut of SpaceX on the Nasdaq-100 index, though the newly public company finished down nearly 7 percent on its first day as part of the benchmark, reflecting broader weakness across technology and AI-linked names during that session. Amazon separately confirmed plans to raise $25 billion through a bond sale, with shares gaining 0.8 percent in premarket trading following the report.

Wednesday's decline also came against the backdrop of NATO's ongoing summit in Ankara, where Trump met with alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte. The gathering has featured its own share of defense-sector news, including confirmation that NATO would purchase up to 10 reconnaissance aircraft from Swedish planemaker Saab, sending Saab shares higher earlier in the week.

With the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran now effectively collapsed and oil prices continuing to reflect renewed geopolitical risk premium, investors are likely to remain focused on further developments out of the Middle East in the coming days, alongside continued volatility in global semiconductor markets, as they assess whether Wednesday's selloff represents a temporary reaction to escalating tensions or the beginning of a more sustained period of market instability heading into the back half of the summer trading season.