Dow Jones tumbles 800 points as Trump’s Iran threat rattles markets ahead of Fed decision

Two things investors hate more than anything: surprises and uncertainty. On July 29, 2026, they got a generous helping of both. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed roughly 800 points in morning trading, a decline of approximately 1.5% to 1.7%, as a combination of geopolitical alarm and pre-Fed nerves sent traders scrambling for the exits. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell in tandem, with semiconductor stocks absorbing particularly sharp losses. The catalyst, at least the immediate one, was a threat of military strikes against Iran issued by President Trump. Oil markets reacted instantly, sending energy prices sharply higher. When oil spikes, everything else gets complicated Energy stocks were the clear outlier on the day, moving higher as the rest of the market sold off. That divergence is textbook risk-off behavior: money rotates away from growth and tech into commodities and defensive names. Semiconductor stocks led the declines on the Nasdaq, which was reportedly approaching correction territory. The Fed is in the room too The 800-point drop did not happen in a vacuum. It landed on the same day markets were bracing for a Federal Reserve policy decision, which layers a second sou...