Stock-market futures and oil hold steady as U.S. launches attack against Iran-backed militia in Syria

U.S. stock-market index and oil futures Thursday night were seeing muted moves amid news that the Biden administration had launched airstrikes in Syria, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210407078/delayed YM00 +0.24% were down less than 0.1% at 31,364, those for the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/209948968/delayed ES00 +0.29% were also off less than 0.1% at 3,827.75, while Nasdaq-100 futures /zigman2/quotes/210219788/delayed NQ00 +0.31% were down 0.4% at 12,787.50. The strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops, according to the Pentagon, the Associated Press reported. U.S. crude-oil futures /zigman2/quotes/211629951/delayed CL.1 +0.86% were off 0.7% at $63.04 a barrel and global benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.9% lower at $65.59 a barrel on Globex. Equity markets on Thursday ended sharply lower amid a rapid rise in bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury note touching around 1.6%, undercutting appetite for assets percieved as risky like stocks against risk-free government debt. On Thursday, the Dow /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +1.76% booked its steepest one-day slide since Jan. 29, the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +2.47% closed down 2.5% to mark the biggest daily slump in three weeks and the Nasdaq Composite Index /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP +3.33% ended the session off 3.5% to mark its worst day since October.