STORY: U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow dropping seven-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 losing more than eight-tenths and the Nasdaq shedding nine-tenths of a percent.
The Israel-Iran conflict raged on for a fifth day, with the U.S. military moving fighter jets to the Middle East and President Donald Trump calling for Iran's "unconditional surrender."
Besides the conflict, investors are closely watching for any new information on Trump's tariffs, his tax-cut bill and U.S. interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is expected to leave rates unchanged at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, despite ongoing pressure from Trump to lower them.
Robert Conzo is CEO of The Wealth Alliance.
"I think [Fed Chairman] Jerome Powell wants to be independent from Trump. He wants to show I'm not going to be strong-armed by the government. I'm going to hold this until we're ready to drop it down. I'm not really sure why the Fed doesn't do a signalling cut of 25 basis points just to show that they're willing to do it. The rest of the world is cutting. We're in great shape. I'm not sure why he doesn't do that, but he's not. And there's no indication that in this particular round he's going to [cut rates]."
Stocks on the move included solar companies which fell after Senate Republicans late Monday unveiled proposed changes to Trump's tax-cut bill, including a phase-out of solar, wind and energy tax credits by 2028.
Enphase Energy tumbled 24% and Sunrun plunged 40%.
Also, Eli Lilly shares dipped 2% after the company agreed to acquire Verve Therapeutics for up to $1.3 billion. Shares of Verve surged more than 80%.
And shares of JetBlue fell almost 8% after its CEO told employees the airline will wind down underperforming routes and reassess the size and scope of its leadership team.
The carrier also said it was unlikely it would break even this year, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
