New Delhi, April 23 -- US stock indices dropped on Thursday on Middle East standoff and a batch of mixed earnings also dented investor sentiments.

At 09:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.00 points, or 0.30%, to 49,341.55, the S&P 500 lost 6.61 points, or 0.10%, to 7,131.08 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 57.27 points, or 0.26%, to 24,593.45.

At the Open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 205.2 points, or 0.41%, to 49,284.85. The S&P 500 fell 19.1 points, or 0.27%, to 7,118.8, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 103.8 points, or 0.42%, to 24,553.747.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq had shrugged off a jump in oil prices to close at record highs on Wednesday.

The US Defense Department on Thursday said its forces seized anothe...