US STOCKS-Wall St extends losses as Iran launches missiles toward Israel

By Noel Randewich, Kanchana Chakravarty

June 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street extended losses on Friday after Iranian media said the country launched missiles toward Israel, marking a response to intensive Israeli strikes aimed at crippling Iran's ability to build nuclear weapons.

Hundreds of ballistic missiles were launched from Iran toward Israel, Iranian media reported.

That came after Israel struck nuclear facilities and missile factories in Iran, escalating tensions in the Middle East and undermining global investor confidence.

The S&P 500 was down 1.30% at 5,966.76 points, extending earlier losses.

The Nasdaq declined 1.44% to 19,380.43 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.02% at 42,097.69 points.

Oil prices surged nearly 7% on fears the conflict could disrupt crude supply from the Middle East. U.S. energy stocks rose in tandem, with Exxon XOM.N rallying 2.1% and Diamondback Energy FANG.O rising 3%.

“It looks as though we could be in for a full-blown military conflict," Elias Haddad, senior markets strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said earlier on Friday. "If it ends up closing down the Strait of Hormuz, where a third of global oil supply goes through, this could have some pretty nasty effect on global markets."

Airline stocks fell on fears that fuel costs could climb. Delta Air Lines DAL.N lost 3.8%, United Airlines UAL.O fell 4.7% and American Airlines AAL.O declined 4.8%.

Defense stocks climbed, with Lockheed Martin LMT.N up 3.4%, RTX Corporation RTX.N gaining 3.3% and Northrop Grumman NOC.N rising 3.5%.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, 10 declined, led lower by financials .SPSY, down 2.22%, followed by a 1.74% loss in information technology .SPLRCT.

Photoshop maker Adobe ADBE.O fell 5.3% as concerns that the pace of the company's AI adoption was too slow overshadowed an increased annual revenue forecast.

Oracle ORCL.N jumped 7% to a record high, and it is now up more than 21% in two days since the technology company gave an upbeat forecast driven by demand for its AI services.

Nvidia NVDA.O dipped 2.5% and Apple AAPL.O lost 1.6%.

Visa V.N and Mastercard MA.N both lost over 5% after the Wall Street Journal reported that major retailers are exploring cryptocurrencies that could eliminate the need for payment intermediaries.

Shares of Boeing BA.N fell 2%.

A tame consumer price report, softer-than-expected producer price data and largely unchanged initial jobless claims earlier this week helped calm investor jitters around tariff-driven price pressures. U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers are widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at their meeting next week.

With investors betting the United States will reach trade agreements that reduce President Donald Trump's steep trade barriers, the S&P 500 is now trading just below its February record highs.

The University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers showed consumer sentiment improved for the first time in six months in June amid trade uncertainty.