US stocks close lower; Dow Jones loses 270 points

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, as investors moved away from financial services stocks amid ongoing pressure in the software sector and rising concerns over a potential military confrontation with Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54%, or 267 points, to 49,395.

The broader S&P 500 declined 0.28%, or 19 points, to 6,861, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.31%, or 70 points, to 22,682, deepening its year-to-date losses to 2.41%.

In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.53% to close at 625 points, amid broadly negative performance across major bourses.

The FTSE 100 declined 0.55% to 10,627, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.93% to 25,043, and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.36% to 8,398.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.57% to 57,467, while the broader TOPIX advanced 1.18% to 3,852.

Brent crude futures for April delivery rose 1.86%, or $1.31, to $71.66 per barrel.

US WTI crude futures for March delivery climbed 1.90%, or $1.24, to $66.43 per barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery fell 0.24%, or $12.10, to $4,997.40 per ounce.

What’s Behind the Market Move?

Financial services stocks came under selling pressure after Blue Owl Capital announced the sale of $1.4 billion worth of loan assets across three of its private credit funds.