USA: Stocks Drop on Middle East Escalation.

US equity indices edged lower on Tuesday as escalating geopolitical tensions drove global markets to limit their positions on equities. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq 100 were around 0.5% down. Reports of US strikes in Iran's Kharg Island escalated the conflict ahead of the possibility of attacks on Iran threatened by President Trump, while Tehran continued to impede outflows of tankers from the Hormuz chokepoint. Tech stocks were sharply lower as the pressure on risk sentiment dented demand for speculative sectors, with Nvidia, AMD, and Micron dropping around 1%, while Tesla fell over 2%. In the meantime, inflationary concerns following another session of higher oil prices hurt lenders, with JPMorgan and Bank of America each losing more than 0.5%. In turn, Broadcom jumped over 1.5% after announcing a long-term agreement with Alphabet to supply TPUs.