12:20 PM EDT, 07/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with index/price moves and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)

US equity indexes slumped as growth sectors sold off while crude oil jumped amid Washington intensifying strikes against Iran.

The Nasdaq dropped 1.9% to 25,485.1, with the S&P 500 down 0.7% to 7,479.3 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower by 0.1% to 52,492.5 after midday Friday.

Communication services, technology, and consumer discretionary led decliners, while energy topped the gainers.

Netflix ( NFLX ) , part of the communication services sector, reported mixed fiscal Q2 results overnight, with earnings above consensus while sales missed, and Q3 guidance lagging market expectations. Shares sank 7.5%, helping lead the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lower.

In geopolitical news, US Central Command said in a post on X that it completed the sixth consecutive wave of attacks against Iran, degrading the nation's military capabilities and holding it "accountable" for recent attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump has threatened to launch broad-based air strikes on Iranian infrastructure and has also declined to rule out a ground assault on Iran's coast or islands, Reuters reported.

An Iranian military spokesman said the Strait of Hormuz will "never return to what it was before the 40-day war," Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported.

The front-month US West Texas Intermediate jumped 3.5% to $81.68 a barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent advanced 3.2% to $86.90 a barrel.