Stocks mixed with Nasdaq down; US oil eases on Iran talks

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Nell Mackenzie

NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes were mixed on Wednesday, with declines in shares of SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices pushing down the Nasdaq, while U.S. oil prices eased on signs of progress toward an Iran peace deal.

A senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters that a proposed deal between Iran and Oman to help end five months of war between Iran and the United States would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 55 cents, or 0.73%, to $75.22 a barrel, while Brent crude futures rose 9 cents, or 0.11%, to settle at $79.45.

Gold prices hit their highest level in almost seven weeks. Spot gold was last up 4.16% at $4,245.40 an ounce.

Shares of AI and satellite company SpaceX dropped 13.6%. The company highlighted faster-than-expected returns from its AI spending on its first-ever earnings call as a public company, but investors remained concerned about how long its Starlink business could continue to bankroll costly investments.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices shares slipped after its results beat analysts' estimates but fell short of investors' lofty expectations.

On Wall Street, the Dow registered a record closing high amid the Iran talks. The S&P 500, however, closed lower and the Nasdaq recorded its first decline in five sessions.

Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York, said tech shares are easing after recent sharp gains.

"Tech stocks have gone very far in a very short amount of time," he said. "Short term, we're just a little bit overbought."

An index of semiconductors fell 1.4% on Wednesday but remains up more than 6% for the week so far.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 263.24 points, or 0.49%, to 54,349.12, the S&P 500 fell 12.97 points, or 0.17%, to 7,723.55 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 221.55 points, or 0.83%, to 26,363.44.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.85 points, or 0.34%, to 1,149.54.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.04%, eking out a fresh all-time high. 

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk, one of Europe's biggest companies by market value, was down after disappointing sales of its Wegovy weight-loss pill overshadowed a strong second-quarter earnings beat.

HSBC shares also fell a day after its results, as investors digested analysts' reaction to the figures.

Treasury yields fell as oil prices dipped. Traders also focused on economic data which will culminate in Friday's July employment report.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 1.23 basis points to 4.615%.

Wednesday's U.S. ADP private employment report showed an increase of 44,000 jobs in July, down from 95,000 positions added in June and about 25,000 jobs shy of expectations. Wages rose 4.4% from a year ago.

Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a 55% chance of an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve's September meeting, down from 68% on Monday.

The Japanese yen steadied in the wake of a historic currency market intervention. The yen was up just 0.01% against the greenback at 157.73 per dollar.

Japan and the U.S. launched a rare joint yen-buying intervention last week and pledged further action if necessary to support the currency.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.18% to 99.68.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Nell Mackenzie in London; Additional reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Mark Potter, Jan Harvey and Daniel Wallis)