The Dow Jones (DJIA) is set to end the trading week lower amid new U.S.-Iran war developments and Chinese trade probes into U.S. trade practices.
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Trade QQQ with leverageA senior U.S. defense official told the Wall Street Journal that the White House is weighing the deployment of up to 10,000 additional combat troops to the Middle East in the coming days. This comes despite President Trump postponing strikes on Iranian power plants until April 6 and describing peace talks as progressing “very well.”
Iran has not yet responded to a proposal to hold peace talks, although the response could come later today, according to CBS News.
The economic impact of the war is starting to emerge in economic data. During March, the Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to a three-month low of 53.3, driven by a significant decline in sentiment from middle-income Americans. “Consumers with middle and higher incomes and stock wealth, buffeted by both escalating gas prices and volatile financial markets in the wake of the Iran conflict, exhibited particularly large drops in sentiment,” said Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
Furthermore, consumers now expect year-ahead inflation of 3.8%, up from 3.4% in February. That marks the largest one-month increase since April 2025. At the same time, long-run inflation expectations fell to 3.2% from 3.3%.
Elsewhere, China’s Commerce Ministry initiated two retaliatory trade probes against the U.S., targeting practices that “disrupt global supply and industrial chains” and “hinder trade in green products.” The move comes after the U.S. launched two Section 301 trade investigations on China earlier this month and could raise tensions ahead of a scheduled May summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Dow Jones is down by 1% at the time of writing.
Which Stocks are Moving the Dow Jones?
Let’s pivot to TipRanks’ Dow Jones Heatmap, which illustrates the stocks that have contributed to the index’s price action.
All four consumer cyclical stocks are trading lower, led to the downside by Amazon (AMZN). Oil prices are rising on Friday, raising the risk of higher inflation and lower consumer spending. Financial stocks are also in the red, as falling consumer sentiment could lead to lower demand for loans and other financial services. On the other hand, defensive stocks, like Walmart (WMT) and Coca-Cola (KO), are catching a bid.
Elsewhere, tech stocks continue to fall lower, with the software sector being hit particularly hard. Microsoft (MSFT) is down by over 1%, bringing its year-to-date loss to 24%.
Is the Dow Jones a Good Long-Term Investment?
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is an exchange-traded fund designed to track the movement of the Dow Jones. As a result, DIA is falling alongside the Dow Jones today.
Wall Street believes that DIA stock has room to rise. During the past three months, analysts have issued an average DIA price target of $567.42, implying upside of 24.78% from current prices. The 30 holdings in DIA carry 30 buy ratings, zero hold ratings, and zero sell ratings.