Stocks were mixed on Thursday, as traders weighed new developments in the U.S.-Iran war ahead of the holiday-extended weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
President Donald Trump said in remarks late Wednesday that the U.S. will target Iran "extremely hard" over the next two or three weeks, stating that the plan is to "bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong." The statements effectively eroded earlier positive outlooks that the war was coming to a more imminent end.
"When it's all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before," Trump said.
Oil prices climbed higher on the escalatory comments, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures rising over 11% to settle at $111.54 per barrel and international benchmark Brent crude futures closing nearly 8% higher at $109.03 per barrel.
Investors came off a winning session on Wednesday on ceasefire hopes, after Trump said in a social media post that he would consider reaching a deal with Tehran only if the Strait of Hormuz was "open, free, and clear." All three major averages closed out the shortened trading week in positive territory, however, with the S&P 500 and Dow advancing 3.4% and 3%, respectively, and the Nasdaq gaining 4.4%.
Layoffs at big U.S. companies rose by 25% in March, according to a Thursday report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, with artificial intelligence being the top cited reason behind the cuts. During the month, employers announced 60,260 reductions -- with about one-quarter being related to AI.
"Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs. The actual replacing of roles can be seen in Technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions. Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can't replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs," said Challenger in a statement.
The report comes ahead of March's "official" jobs report from the Labor Department on Friday, which is expected to show about 59,000 new private payrolls following February's 92,000 loss, according to MarketWatch data. The U.S. unemployment rate is also forecasted to remain steady at 4.4%.
"The U.S.-Israel war with Iran is making the labor market more vulnerable, but any impact will take some time to materialize," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, in a statement Thursday, quoted by Yahoo!Finance. "That's confirmed by the latest job claims figures, which are consistent with stable labor market conditions."
Wall Street will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday. Markets will open at normal hours on Monday.
