Dow Jones and DAX Decline Due to Fragile Ceasefire in the Middle East – Robust US Labor Market Keeps Fed's Interest Rate Options Open – Looming Bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz Fuel Oil Prices – Applied Materials Records Revenue Records Thanks to Innovative Chip Manufacturing Systems – Meta Platforms Excites Wall Street with New Speech Model Muse Spark

A Fragile Ceasefire in the Middle East Pushes the Dow Jones into the Red The initial euphoria over a potential end to the war in Iran is fading on the US stock market, as heavy Israeli strikes in Lebanon threaten peace. As a result, the Dow Jones is currently down 0.25% at 47,789 points, while the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq remain nearly unchanged at 22,608 points. US President Donald Trump openly threatens military escalation should peace negotiations fail and simultaneously pressures European NATO partners for quick...