By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Friday, with investors on edge over the Iran-Israel conflict heading into the weekend, as the U.S. considers whether to get involved.
Trading was choppy for much of the session. The S&P 500 also ended lower for the week, while the Nasdaq registered a weekly gain.
Iran said it would not discuss the future of its nuclear program while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations.
The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran air war, adding pressure on Tehran to negotiate.
“Investors are a little bit nervous about buying stocks right in front of this situation and, more specifically, right in front of this weekend,” said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
Israel’s attacks have been aimed at suppressing Tehran’s ability to build nuclear weapons. A week into its campaign, Israel said it had hit dozens of military targets.
Tech-related megacap stocks, including Nvidia, were among the biggest negatives on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.16 points, or 0.08%, to 42,206.82, the S&P 500 lost 13.03 points, or 0.22%, to 5,967.84 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 98.86 points, or 0.51%, to 19,447.41.
For the week, the Dow was little changed, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and the Nasdaq was up 0.2%.
Friday’s volume was higher than the recent average. The day marked a “triple-witching” event, which is the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts that takes place once every quarter.
U.S. exchanges’ volume was 20.91 billion shares, compared with the 18.06 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Investors also weighed comments from Federal Reserve officials after the Fed on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged and Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned inflation could pick up pace over the summer as Trump’s tariffs work their way to consumers.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he felt the inflation risk from tariffs was small, and that the Fed should cut rates as soon as its next meeting. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin took a more tempered view, saying there was no urgency to cut rates.
Kroger shares jumped 9.8% after the grocery chain increased its annual sales growth forecast.
Shares of Accenture fell 6.9% after the IT services provider said new bookings decreased in the third quarter.
