NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Friday as the deeply unpopular Netanyahu-Trump war on Iran continued to play havoc with world markets. Surging oil prices, plunging stocks, and safe-haven demand for the U.S. dollar played out Friday in a tense day of trading across the globe.

"If this is an escalation involving troops on the ground, then we're probably in for at least a couple more weeks of this sort of market of higher oil prices, high gas prices; you're hanging on every headline about energy infrastructure in the region," Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield told CNBC Friday. "Quite frankly, equity markets haven't sold off in a way that would reflect this sort of event yet, so there could still be some some downside ahead."

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 99.86 points, or 1.51 percent, to close at 6,506.63. Trading volume on the index reached 5.894 billion shares.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 446.51 points Friday, a decline of 0.97 percent, ending the day at 45,574.92 on volume of 869.095 million shares.

The technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite underperformed, tumbling 443.08 points to settle at 21,647.61, a loss of 2.01 percent. Volume on the Nasdaq totaled 6.156 billion shares.

Dollar strengthens Friday as yen, euro, British pound, and commodity currencies crumble

The U.S. dollar posted a strong performance against major currencies on Friday, with the Japanese yen falling sharply while commodity-linked currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars also faced significant selling pressure.

The euro weakened against the greenback, with the EUR/USD pair last trading at 1.1557, a decline of 0.26 percent. Meanwhile, the British pound also fell, with GBP/USD settling at 1.3334, down 0.71 percent.

The Japanese yen was a standout loser Friday. The USD/JPY pair dropped to 159.26, representing a decline of 1.00 percent for the dollar against the yen—meaning the yen depreciated by that margin.

The Canadian dollar edged slightly higher against its U.S. counterpart. USD/CAD traded at 1.3710, a modest loss of 0.20 percent for the greenback. The Swiss franc was nearly flat, with USD/CHF inching down 0.01 percent to 0.7881.

In the antipodean currencies, the Australian dollar fell sharply. AUD/USD slid 1.01 percent to 0.7014, while the New Zealand dollar weakened 0.84 percent to 0.5824 against the U.S. dollar.

Divisions on global markets at week's end but world's stocks mostly dive

Global stock markets closed Friday with a distinctly regional flavor, as European benchmarks suffered sharp losses while several Asian indexes managed to eke out gains, according to the latest closing data.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index suffered steep losses, shedding 537.75 points (1.69 percent) to finish at 31,317.23 on volume of 834.566 million shares.

The FTSE 100 in London fell 145.17 points, or 1.44 percent, to settle at 9,918.33. 

In Europe, sell-offs were widespread. Germany's DAX P dropped sharply, losing 459.37 points to close at 22,380.19, a decline of 2.01 percent. The French CAC 40 also retreated, shedding 142.25 points (1.82 percent) to finish at 7,665.62.

The broader Eurozone indices followed suit. The EURO STOXX 50 I fell 112.55 points, ending the session at 5,501.28, a loss of 2.00 percent. The Euronext 100 Index declined by 33.11 points (1.91 percent) to 1,699.00, while Belgium's BEL 20 closed at 4,916.79, down 87.98 points, or 1.76 percent.

Earlier in the day Friday, Asia-Pacific markets showed a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 experienced the most dramatic swing, plummeting 1,866.87 points to finish at 53,372.53, a steep loss of 3.38 percent.

In contrast, India's S&P BSE SENSEX bucked the trend, rising 325.72 points (0.44 percent) to 74,532.96. Indonesia's IDX COMPOSITE posted a solid gain of 1.20 percent, climbing 84.55 points to 7,106.84.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 69.40 points (0.82 percent) to 8,428.40, while the broader ALL ORDINARIES slipped 62.40 points (0.72 percent) to 8,628.30.

In Hong Kong the HANG SENG INDEX lost 223.26 points (0.88 percent), settling at 25,277.32, and South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index edged up 17.98 points (0.31 percent) to 5,781.20.

The SSE Composite Index in Shanghai on Friday declined by 49.50 points (1.24 percent), closing at 3,957.05.

In Taiwan the TWSE fell 145.80 points (0.43 percent) to 33,543.88, while Singapore's STI Index saw a modest drop of 18.74 points (0.38 percent) to 4,948.87. Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was unchanged on the day, holding at 1,720.71.

Rounding out the global data, the S&P/NZX 50 INDEX in New Zealand fell 61.62 points (0.47 percent) to 12,989.99, the TA-125 in Tel Aviv rose 11.79 points (0.28 percent), and the Top 40 USD Net TRI Index in South Africa lost 98.77 points (1.51 percent).

(This report incorporates quotes retrieved with the assistance of artificial intelligence).

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