Dow Jones index set to open lower amid rising Middle-East tensions

The Dow Jones index today is set to open lower amid rising Middle-East tensions. Dow futures are down over 500 points while the Nasdaq Composite futures and the S&P 500 futures are both down over 1.25%.

Stocks were under pressure around the world, with U.S. index futures falling dramatically after Israel started attacks across Iran, claiming they were aimed at hurting the country’s nuclear program. Oil prices have risen dramatically, while safe-haven gold has reached a new high.

“While the geopolitical risk is real and rising, long-term investors should not be panicked into abandoning sound investment strategy. This is a time for caution, yes—but absolutely not a time for indiscriminate selling,” says Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has declared a special state of emergency, warning that “a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future.”

Iran has launched more than 100 drones into Israeli territory on Friday morning, following Israel’s overnight missile strike on the country.

“Markets are reacting sharply to a dangerous escalation between Israel and Iran. But time and again, we’ve seen markets overreact to geopolitical events—only to recover once the initial panic fades. This is not a systemic crisis, and fundamentals across most sectors remain intact. Fear-driven selling typically leads to missed opportunities. Yes, reposition if you’re overexposed to vulnerable sectors and build resilience with commodities, gold, or defensive stocks. But don’t liquidate quality assets because of short-term headlines. Emotional decisions rarely end well,” says Green.

During Thursday’s regular session, the 30-stock Dow and the Nasdaq Composite both gained 0.2%. The broad market S&P 500, which gained roughly 0.4%, is getting closer to its all-time high set in February; it is less than 2% off that level.

However, market gains were tightly constrained by investors’ concerns about the White House’s tariff stance. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted Wednesday that if top trading partners demonstrate “good faith” in negotiations, the Trump administration may be willing to extend the current 90-day tariff moratorium over the July 9 deadline.

However, President Donald Trump highlighted concerns about unilateral tariffs, telling reporters, “We are negotiating with Japan and South Korea. We’re dealing with a large number of them. So we’ll be sending letters to countries in about a week and a half, two weeks, telling them what the deal is, just like I did with the EU.”

The May data of the producer price index helped improve the major averages, up 0.1% from the previous month. That’s lower than the 0.2% growth that Dow Jones economists expected. Bond yields also fell, boosting investor enthusiasm. Earlier this week, the May consumer inflation figure also came in lower than expected.