Stocks fell sharply at Tuesday's open, with market participants spooked by signs of a prolonged conflict between the U.S. and Iran. However, for the second day in a row, the main indexes finished well off their intraday lows, with today's recovery courtesy of President Donald Trump's offer for risk insurance and military escorts for ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The three main indexes were down more than 2.5% each at their session lows on Tuesday. At the close, though, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had pared its loss to 0.8% to finish at 48,501. The broader S&P 500 was off 0.9% at 6,816 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 1.0% lower at 22,516.
