Wall Street ends mixed as worries linger before holiday break

April 2 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended slightly mixed on Thursday after paring deeper losses, as diplomatic signals from the Middle East helped calm markets rattled earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump‘s threats of tougher action against Iran ahead of a long holiday weekend.

Investor sentiment steadied in the afternoon after Iran’s foreign ministry said it was drafting a protocol with Oman to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Britain said dozens of countries were discussing ways to end the crisis, easing worries about prolonged disruption to global oil flows.

Stocks had opened lower amid rising oil prices after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled more aggressive attacks, ahead of the Good Friday holiday, when markets will be closed.

Front-month crude prices surged, with U.S. crude up 11% at around $111 a barrel. The international reference Brent closed up about 7% near $108. But traders priced it at about $82 per barrel in October, a signal that they expect the disruption to be temporary.

“The (stock) market has no real conviction either way right now, but October oil prices tell you the market thinks this crisis will likely be over by the fall,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 7.26 points, or 0.11%, to end at 6,582.58 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 35.92 points, or 0.18%, to 21,876.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.23 points, or 0.13%, to 46,504.51.

The rebound reflected caution, with investors favoring stock segments seen as more resilient to economic stress. Utilities, which tend to offer steady earnings and dividends, rose while consumer discretionary stocks slid, the worst-performing sector on the day.

Wall Street had opened sharply lower on Iran, in a sharp reversal from his earlier comments that the U.S. will be “out of Iran pretty quickly”.

Separately, private credit jitters resurfaced after Blue Owl capped the amount investors can withdraw from two of its retail-focused funds.

On the S&P 500, consumer discretionary shares weighed the most, led by a drop in Tesla after its first-quarter delivery figures.

Further developments on Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be in focus after it confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday, and is expected to target a $1.75 trillion valuation.

Friday’s nonfarm-payroll numbers will be in the spotlight after weekly jobless claims fell last week, but U.S. markets will remain closed throughout the long weekend.

Globalstar’s shares jumped after a report said Amazon is in talks to buy the low-earth-orbit communication satellites company.

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in New York; Johann M Cherian, Purvi Agarwal and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)