Nasdaq Slips As Oil Hits $100 On Iran Strikes, Apple's Ternus-Led Event Looms Wednesday In New York Trading

NEW YORK — The Nasdaq Composite fell 92.43 points, or 0.35%, to 26,328.98 as of 9:38 a.m. ET Wednesday, as U.S. stocks opened lower for a third consecutive session amid surging oil prices tied to the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran, and as investors braced for a pivotal Apple product event later in the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq both slipped roughly 0.5% at the opening bell, while the S&P 500 edged lower by 0.3%, extending a downbeat stretch that began earlier in the week. Tuesday's session had already seen the Dow shed more than 600 points, its second consecutive daily decline following Friday's 272-point loss, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also notching back-to-back losing sessions heading into Wednesday's trading.

Oil prices crossed the psychologically significant $100-a-barrel threshold for the first time in roughly two months Wednesday, after fighting between the United States and Iran intensified further and American forces struck five Iranian oil tankers. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, traded at $100 per barrel, extending a rally that has now stretched for six consecutive sessions, West Texas Intermediate's longest winning streak since a seven-day run back in March.

Traders were also recalibrating expectations for Federal Reserve policy heading into the central bank's upcoming meeting, with rising oil prices adding to inflation concerns that have already pushed market-implied odds of a September rate hike higher in recent sessions.

Adding to the week's market pressures, the trade dispute between the United States and Canada continued escalating. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a defiant tone Tuesday, prompting the Trump administration to roll out a series of retaliatory measures, including plans for a full ban on Canadian dairy products and a partial ban on Canadian alcohol products. According to the White House, those alcohol products, currently subject to tariffs, will be entirely excluded from importation into the United States starting Sept. 29 if the standoff between the two countries continues, with the administration citing authority under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to justify the measures.

The dominant story for markets Wednesday, however, centered on Apple, which was set to kick off a new era for the company later in the day as new CEO John Ternus took the stage for the first time to lead Apple's annual fall product event. The presentation, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time, or 1 p.m. Eastern time, is widely expected to feature the debut of Apple's first foldable iPhone alongside updated iPhone 18 Pro models, new Apple Watches and AirPods.

Apple shares had already come under pressure heading into the event, closing at $319.97 on Sept. 4, down 2.51% for that session, as investors weighed both the leadership transition and broader macroeconomic rate worries. Given Apple's outsized weighting within both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes, any significant move in the stock following Wednesday's presentation carries the potential to meaningfully influence the broader direction of both benchmarks for the remainder of the trading day.

Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng has maintained a Buy rating on Apple shares heading into product events of this kind in the past, though analysts have generally cautioned that Apple's September announcements have historically had only a limited direct impact on the stock's day-of performance, with investors instead typically focusing more heavily on specific details around pricing, shipping timelines and any commentary regarding the company's services and artificial intelligence strategy in the days and weeks following the initial announcement.

Beyond Apple and the geopolitical and trade-related pressures weighing on markets, Wednesday's economic calendar included several scheduled data releases, including weekly MBA mortgage applications figures, with markets anticipating a 0.8% increase, alongside ADP's weekly employment change figures. Corporate earnings reports scheduled for the day included The Cooper Companies, SailPoint, Chewy, AeroVironment, Navan, American Eagle Outfitters and Wealthfront, offering additional company-specific catalysts for individual stock movement throughout the session.

Tuesday's broader market weakness had also been shaped in part by continued fallout from Qualcomm's newly announced multi-generational partnership with Amazon Web Services to build customized silicon for AI data center infrastructure, a deal that sent Qualcomm shares surging even as the broader market struggled, illustrating the continued divergence between AI-infrastructure-linked stocks and the broader market's performance amid the week's other macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds.

Historical seasonal data compiled by research firm Bespoke has previously noted that the S&P 500 has tended to continue trending lower for a stretch following early-September pullbacks of the kind markets experienced this week, a pattern some technical analysts have pointed to as an additional source of caution for investors navigating the current environment, even as fundamental drivers, including corporate earnings and Federal Reserve policy expectations, remain the more immediate focus for most market participants.

With oil prices continuing to climb amid the unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the U.S.-Canada trade dispute showing no clear signs of near-term resolution, and Apple's product event still to come later Wednesday, investors are likely to face a data- and news-heavy remainder of the week. Market participants will be watching closely for how Apple's presentation is received by both consumers and Wall Street analysts, along with any further developments in the Iran conflict and the Canada trade standoff that could continue shaping the direction of U.S. equity markets heading into the back half of September.