01:52 PM EDT, 03/19/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes fell in midday trading on Thursday as oil prices continued to rise amid an escalating war in the Middle East.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8% to 21,968.8, with the S&P 500 down 0.7% to 6,575.5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.9% to 45,831.1. Most US sectors were in the red, with materials and industrials sectors leading the decliners.

Most US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield up 1.8 basis points to 4.28%. The two-year yield gained 10.6 basis points to 3.85%.

Oil prices rose on Thursday after strikes on energy infrastructure in the Middle East raised concerns of a major supply crunch. Iranian missile strikes inflicted "extensive damage" on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world's largest liquefied natural gas export facility, Qatar said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 1.4% to $97.74.

QatarEnergy Chief Executive Saad al-Kaabi said attacks by Iran have wiped out 17% of Qatar's LNG capacity, resulting in $20 billion in lost revenue, Reuters reported Thursday, citing an interview with the CEO.

In economic news, US new-home sales fell to a 587,000 annual rate in January from a 712,000 rate in December, and lower than the 722,000 expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Home sales declined 11.3% from January 2025. The supply of homes available for sale rose by 0.4% to 476,000, but the median sales price fell to $400,500 from $419,200 in December.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million, a decline from the December rate of 1.45 million, according to the US Census Bureau.

In the week ending March 14, initial jobless claims were 205,000, down from 213,000 in the week earlier and below the 215,000 estimated by analysts polled by Bloomberg. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta now expects Q1 real GDP growth of 2.3%, down from a 2.7% forecast on March 13.

January wholesale inventories also declined by 0.5%, compared with 0.1% drop in December and lower than the 0.2% gain expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. While durable wholesale inventories held steady, nondurables inventories decreased by 1.5%. Wholesale sales increased by 0.5% in January after a 1.3% gain in December, and in-line with a 0.5% gain forecast by analysts.

The Conference Board US Leading index fell by 0.1% in January as expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a 0.2% decrease in December. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for current general activity rose to 18.1 in March from 16.3 in February, marking its third consecutive increase. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected 8.3.

In company news, Uber Technologies ( UBER ) is investing up to $1.25 billion in Rivian Automotive ( RIVN ) through 2031, subject to certain performance milestones, to support the development of a fleet of Rivian R2 robotaxis that will be exclusive to Uber's ( UBER ) platform, the companies said Thursday. Uber ( UBER ) has committed to an initial $300 million investment, subject to regulatory approval, the companies said. Uber ( UBER ) shares were down 1.7%, while Rivian shares were up 0.6%.

Micron Technology ( MU ) reported fiscal Q2 non-GAAP earnings late Wednesday of $12.20 per diluted share, up from $1.56 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus of $9.19. Fiscal Q2 revenue was $23.86 billion, up from $8.05 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus of $19.97 billion. For fiscal Q3, the company said it expects adjusted EPS of $18.75 to $19.55 and revenue of $32.75 billion to $34.25 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $12.03 EPS and $24.29 billion in revenue. Micron shares were down 4% around midday.