What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the morning session after President Trump declared the Iran ceasefire "over" and threatened fresh strikes, sending oil prices soaring and triggering a broad risk-off move.
Business services (staffing, consulting, payment processing, and outsourcing firms) are a bet on the pace of economic activity, so they tend to fall when growth expectations wobble.
A crude spike (Brent +7.5% to $79.65) revives inflation fears, and the accompanying jump in global bond yields raises the discount rate applied to these companies' future cash flows.
Also, corporate clients typically freeze discretionary spending on consultants and temporary labor when geopolitical uncertainty clouds the outlook. With Fed minutes due and officials having signaled possible further rate hikes, the sector's dual sensitivity to both slower activity and higher rates left it firmly in the red.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Specialized Technology company Arlo Technologies (NYSE: ARLO) fell 4.2%. Is now the time to buy Arlo Technologies? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Office & Commercial Furniture company HNI (NYSE: HNI) fell 4.6%. Is now the time to buy HNI? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Specialized Technology company PAR Technology (NYSE: PAR) fell 4.7%. Is now the time to buy PAR Technology? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On PAR Technology (PAR)
PAR Technology’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 43 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 14 days ago when the stock gained 6.5% on the news that the company announced a partnership with Bolla Oil Corporation to launch the convenience store chain's first customer loyalty program.
The program, named "Bolla Rewards," will be powered by PAR Retail and aims to increase customer engagement across more than 160 locations. This news follows another partnership announced on June 16 with Pizza Factory, which will adopt PAR's unified suite of solutions across its 110 locations to enhance its technology. These business wins come after JPMorgan upgraded PAR Technology to "Neutral" from "Underweight" on June 9, citing a correction of an overstated share count in a prior report.
PAR Technology is down 51.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $17.19 per share, it is trading 75.9% below its 52-week high of $71.23 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of PAR Technology’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $259.79.
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