04:53 PM EDT, 03/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equities slid Friday as Wall Street capped another rough week, with the Nasdaq Composite index posting its worst weekly performance in 12 months.

The Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.2% lower at 20,948.4, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.7% to 45,166.6. The S&P 500 lost 1.7% to settle at 6,368.9. Most sectors ended in the red, led by consumer discretionary's 3.1% slump, while energy led the gainers.

All three major US stock indexes logged their fifth consecutive weekly losses, led by the Nasdaq Composite's 3.2% drop, its steepest weekly fall since March last year. The S&P 500 and the Dow shed 2.1% and 0.9%, respectively.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was last up 5.9% to $100.02 per barrel.

Israel said it will "escalate" its strikes in response to a series of Iranian missiles, CNN reported Friday. Iran's Navy turned away three ships from the crucial Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day, the news outlet reported, citing semi-official news agency Fars.

The strait that carries around one quarter of global seaborne oil trade has largely been closed for nearly a month now, with no signs that a reopening could happen anytime soon.

"A critical development now unfolding is the depletion of 'oil on water,'" Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a report. "Tankers that departed the Gulf prior to the escalation have largely completed their journeys and discharged cargoes. With limited new supply entering the market, the buffer that initially dampened price spikes is rapidly eroding."

President Donald Trump's announcement late Thursday that the US was further delaying strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure failed to calm nerves.

"Extending the ceasefire takes some near-term heat out of the market, but risks still lean to the upside," ING Bank said in a report published Friday. "The scale of supply at risk remains significant -- around 8 million barrels per day are already offline, and a much larger volume of flows through the Gulf remains vulnerable -- so the geopolitical premium is unlikely to fade meaningfully."

US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year yield little changed at 4.43% and the two-year rate falling 9.2 basis points to 3.91%.

The conflict has introduced fresh challenges for the US economy, two Federal Reserve officials said Friday, joining a chorus of policymakers raising concerns about the economic fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran.

Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson said the war poses "new risks" to inflation and economic growth. Paulson is a Federal Open Market Committee voter this year.

"If inflation were at the (Fed's) 2% target, I would feel more comfortable being patient, keeping monetary policy on hold and waiting to see if a hypothetical growth surge puts upward pressure on inflation," Paulson said.

"But if inflation is above 2% and has been for some time, I would be more cautious. I would be inclined to weight the possibility of overheating more heavily in determining appropriate policy," she said.

Separately, Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said the Iran war has complicated the demand outlook.

"Not only do higher oil prices hit consumer sentiment, but they also affect the price of other products like air travel, freight and shipping," Barkin said in remarks prepared for delivery in Tennessee. "Those higher prices can crowd out spending elsewhere."

Several Fed officials, including Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and Governor Lisa Cook, on Thursday shared "a coordinated stance of patience," Stifel said in a report on Friday.

In economic news, US consumer sentiment this month reached the lowest since December, while year-ahead inflation expectations saw the largest one-month gain since April, a survey by the University of Michigan showed.

In company news, Expedia's ( EXPE ) bookings growth could take a hit in the first half of the year amid the Middle East conflict, Morgan Stanley said in a note. The travel booking platform's shares dropped 3%.

Entergy ( ETR ) unit Entergy Louisiana agreed to an expanded power supply contract with Meta Platforms ( META ) to support the technology giant's Northeast Louisiana computing facility. Entergy ( ETR ) shares jumped 6.8%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, while Meta fell 4%.

Brown-Forman's (BF.A, BF.B) potential merger with Pernod Ricard is likely to face high execution risk due to cultural differences between the companies, RBC Capital Markets said in a note.

Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman and French beverages firm Pernod Ricard said Thursday they were in talks about a possible merger of equals.

Brown-Forman's class B shares advanced 5.6%, the second-best performer on the S&P 500, while its class A shares rose 4.6%.

Gold was up 2.9% at $4,501.30 per troy ounce in Friday late-afternoon trade, while silver jumped 2.7% to $69.75 per ounce.