Closing Bell: Markets Slide as U.S.-Iran Tension and Oil Spike Meet Venezuela Crude Deal

Stocks were mostly lower Monday but closed out August with gains in what has become a typical trend: tech provided strength even as oil prices created inflation uncertainty.

The S&P 500 (/SPX) slipped 0.33% Monday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) was off by 0.7%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 (/RUT) fell 0.54%. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (/NDX) was up 0.8%.

For the month, the S&P 500 rose 2.6%, the Dow rose 1.3%, the small-cap RUT was up 0.9% and the Nasdaq-100 was up 4.2%

Here are few things to know about financial news and big moves in Monday's market:

Crude oil futures were up more than 3% to more than $86 per barrel after the close Monday after the U.S. struck Iranian targets and Iran responded, marking a return to combat. Among energy shares in the S&P 500, ExxonMobil Holdings (XOM) rose 2.7% and Devon Energy (DVN) was up nearly 2.5%, while Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI) and Chevron (CVX) rose more than 2%. See Elevated Crude Oil Hits Fed's Inflation Outlook, Tariffs Tackle Global Trade

President Donald Trump on Friday announced an agreement that involves development of oil fields in Venezuela; the fields hold an estimated 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, according to Venezuelan state media. It could take many years to develop, with commercial partners. Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves at just over 300 billion barrels, which is six times the U.S. reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and reports.

Tesla (TSLA) jumped 5.5% Monday after CEO Elon Musk replied to a post on X about plans by SpaceX (SPCX) to manufacture its own gas turbine blades to remove a bottleneck in data center construction. He noted that both SpaceX and Tesla were "each building 100 gigawatts per year of solar production capacity as fast as possible," but that the process would take several years. Tesla's energy segment solar panels could benefit by supplying much-needed power in the data center build-out to support artificial intelligence (AI). See TSLA Hits Gas in EVs: What is Means for BYD, NIO, XPEV & China's Market

The worst performers in the S&P 500 Monday were two California utilities: PG&E (PCG), slumped 20%, and Edison International (EIX), tumbled nearly 23%. Analysts downgraded the stocks on increased risk of greater California fire liability after lawmakers reached a deal on a bill over the weekend that protects victims and effectively limits insurer liability, according to reports. Sempra Energy (SRE), the holding company that owns San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co, fell 3%. See Monday's First Move: PCG Downgrades, GME Prelim Earnings, DE Upgrade 

The biggest S&P 500 gainer was Coinbase Global (COIN), which rallied more than 5%. It rose along with other crypto and trading plays as Bitcoin strengthened and the U.S. dollar weakened. See Traditional Finance "Finally Waking Up" to Crypto? Bitcoin's New Bull & Bear Case

CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) jumped 5.8% Monday and hit a new all-time high after unveiling multiple collaborations and a new automation platform.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon.com (AMZN), alleging that the company “misled advertisers” about its sponsored ads pricing and auction systems, according to reports. Amazon shares were down 2.5% Monday.

OpenAI said its advertising business revenue run rate has hit $1 billion on an annualized basis.

For this week's economic and earnings calendars, see: Week Ahead: Big Week for Economic Data and Tech Earnings

Angrej Singh and Tom White contributed to this article

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