NEW YORK (Reuters) - A cocktail of interest rate anxiety and geopolitical tensions is keeping U.S. stock investors defensive and driving Wall Street's most closely watched volatility gauge to its highest level in half a year. With the S&P 500 down nearly 5% from its late March record closing high, the Cboe Volatility Index broke above 20 overnight as tensions...

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.) * Netflix ( NFLX ) falls after dour Q2 forecast * Paramount up on likely buyout bid from Sony ( SONY ), Apollo * Indexes: Dow up 0.41%, S&P down 0.38%, Nasdaq slides 1.10% (Updated at 11:43 a.m. ET/1543 GMT)...

12:55 PM EDT, 04/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Broad Market Indicators Broad-market exchange-traded funds, including IWM and IVV, were trading lower. Actively-traded Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was down 1.8%. US benchmark stock indexes were mixed in midday trading on Friday after technology and communication services declined and investors shrugged off Israel's retaliatory military action against Iran. Energy iShares US Energy ETF...

12:36 PM EDT, 04/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark stock indexes were mixed in midday trading on Friday after technology and communication services declined and investors shrugged off Israel's retaliatory military action against Iran. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% to 4,972.2, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.8% to 15,320 The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2% to 37,836.5. Among sectors,...