Update: US Equity Indexes Mixed as Trump's Threats to Strike Iran Unlikely to Escalate Into Full-Scale War

(Updates with index/price moves and political news from the first paragraph.) US equity indexes traded mixed, off session lows, after President Donald Trump warned of more strikes on Iran that would not signal a return to full-scale war, watering down his earlier comments that the peace deal with the Islamic republic "is over." The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.1% to 52,314.1, with the S&P 500 down by 0.4% to 7,477.1 ahead of Wednesday's close. The Nasdaq Composite was little changed at 25,825.9. President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to unleash more military strikes against Iran after saying that Tehran's attacks on commercial ships signaled the end of the ceasefire, the Associated Press reported. But he later said the most recent exchange of fire with the Islamic Republic did not herald a return to full-scale war. He said Wednesday that the US would "probably hit them hard again tonight," and later added that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in "long-term" military action, the news report said. The US West Texas Intermediate jumped 4.8% to $73.84 a barrel, off session highs.