Wall Street indexes rally after Trump postpones strikes on Iran's power plants

Wall Street indexes rally after Trump postpones strikes on Iran's power plants

By Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal

Mon March 23, 2026

It was quite the teeter-totter day again with the indexes swinging wildly between two competing scenarios of Trump pushing a peace plan with Tehran and Tehran denying it. At its height the Dow was up over 1100, its lowest over 200. A major impetus was also Trump’s decision not to bomb Iran’s power plants just yet. That caused oil to drop and a corresponding jump in equities.

Wall Street skids as Middle East turmoil fans inflation fear

Wall Street skids as Middle East turmoil fans inflation fear

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

Fri March 20, 2026

It was another day of a thorough drubbing with major 3-digit losses all around, though losses were far more moderate until about 1 pm. Before 1 pm, it was just the usual war/inflation fears. It was probably right around 1 pm that Trump announced thousands of more Marines being deployed to the war region with no signs of the fighting letting up. It was at that point that everything went even further into hell.  

Wall Street ends down as traders see no rate cuts before 2027

Wall Street ends down as traders see no rate cuts before 2027

By Noel Randewich and Utkarsh Hathi

Thu March 19, 2026 

It was another day to get whooped but it started out much worse in the morning and through about 3 pm when all three indexes really took a dive, the Dow down some 500. At 3 pm, there was suddenly a very energetic buying spree that recovered all the day’s losses but unfortunately ended at 3:15 pm when just as suddenly they all went into a big dive again until close. The likely trigger were the European central banks following suit with the Fed and holding rates steady on the well publicized fear of oil-induced major inflation in our future resulting from the war.  

Wall Street ends sharply lower after Fed keeps rates unchanged

Wall Street ends sharply lower after Fed keeps rates unchanged

By Noel Randewich and Utkarsh Hathi

Wed March 18, 2026

It was another huge rout today but the headline “sharply lower after Fed keeps rates unchanged” is not quite accurate. The fact is that for quite some time now analysts have said no rate change in March. For a long while, the hopes were for June but once the war started, it became October and perhaps not at all. So the Fed decision today to keep rates unchanged was already long since priced in to the market. No indeed what happened was today’s PPI report which at 3.4% was considerably higher than the 2.9% forecast which was a foreboding of more inflation and dropping all the indexes considerably right out the gate. There was zero expectation of a rate cut, but major hopes that at least the Fed would signal that oil would not figure in to inflation policy.  

Wall Street ends up as traders turn to Fed

Wall Street ends up as traders turn to Fed

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

Tue March 17, 2026

For no particular reason, all the indexes closed the day with modest gains except for tech which had a pretty good up day. But the day didn’t start that way with them all way up in the morning, the Dow almost 500. All the usual problems remain with the one positive being that Wall Street is betting on now one more rate cut near the end of the year (up from zero a couple days ago) and that tomorrow’s Fed announcement will bring more clarity on inflation.  

Wall Street ends higher as traders return to AI stocks

Wall Street ends higher as traders return to AI stocks

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

Mon March 16, 2026

AI is once again today the darling of Wall Street with Meta planning to lay off 20% of its workers on the basis that AI will assist the remaining 80% to work more efficiently, thereby lending more credence in the future profitability of the technology. All three indexes zoomed straight up right out the gate a substantial 3-digits and stayed there all day. Major AI players saw a good boost. Investors also acted on news reports from Washington that Iranian, Indian, and Chinese tankers would soon be moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which dropped oil prices a bit but is also in direct contradiction to statements made by Iran last week.

Wall Street closes lower, posts weekly loss as war on Iran fuels inflation worries

Wall Street closes lower, posts weekly loss as war on Iran fuels inflation worries

By Stephen Culp and Johann M Cherian

Fri March 13, 2026 

All the indexes started in the green, the Dow up some 450 at the outset, but the bad news started pouring in from the boatload of data that was expected today. At least it was a steady rather than chaotic decline on all fronts well into the red by the end of the day with tech getting the brunt of it. 

Wall St ends sharply lower as intensifying Iran war, soaring crude prompt selloff

Wall St ends sharply lower as intensifying Iran war, soaring crude prompt selloff

By Stephen Culp and Johann M Cherian

Thu March 12, 2026  

Today was the worst yet. No bouncing back and forth, just straight down. With the strikes on the two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, hopes of a quick end to the war were also struck down. There were no positives in the tug-of-war, just the war making everyone flee equities for safer havens and all the indexes dropping dramatically right at the outset and staying there all day.  

S&P 500, Dow end lower as escalating Iran war sours risk appetite

S&P 500, Dow end lower as escalating Iran war sours risk appetite

By Stephen Culp and Johann M Cherian

Wed March 11, 2026  

In a day of extraordinarily volatile trading, investors were in a tug-of-war between the bad news of oil supply concerns and subsequent rapidly spiking energy prices as well as Iran’s continuing attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The flip side of the tug-of-war was the good news of OPEC’s promise today that oil production was being ramped up and exports would continue. The Dow swung wildly hitting a low of more than 600 down by noon but closing at a minus 289, with the Nasdaq also swinging between a high of +180 around 10 a.m. and a low of a -95 around 1:30 pm. 

Wall St closes mixed on ramped-up Middle East tensions

Wall St closes mixed on ramped-up Middle East tensions

By Stephen Culp and Johann M Cherian

Tue March 10, 2026  

They called it a parabolic move today starting deeply in the red as the fighting in Iran was said to be at its most intense, then moved up swiftly on more optimism the war could end soon, then fell just as swiftly as investors once again got a reality check that a quick resolution was probably not coming. All three indexes zoomed straight up to big gains only to collapse at around 1:30 and close nearly flat. The Dow was down some 300 at 10 a.m. and up nearly 500 by 1:30, an 800-point swing.  The Navy said no escorts for tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the news of Iran laying mines in the strait hastened the market’s decline.  

Wall St ends higher as hopes of Iran war resolution offset inflation fears

Wall St ends higher as hopes of Iran war resolution offset inflation fears

By Stephen Culp and Johann M Cherian

Mon March 9, 2026

Early in the day, another surge in oil prices combined with Iran’s selection of the slain supreme leader’s son to succeed him brought all three indexes crashing way down, which is where they stayed all day. The Dow was down nearly 900 in the morning, remained that way until 3:15 when it very suddenly spurted way up again. Same with the Nasdaq, down about 330 in the morning, then shot straight up right at about 3:15, the S&P following a very similar pattern, down over 100 in the morning. It must have been right around 3 pm that Trump made the dual announcements that the war plans were way ahead of the previously stated five week schedule and could be over very soon.  

US stocks close down as oil spikes 12%, job market weakens

US stocks close down as oil spikes 12%, job market weakens

By Sabrina Valle and Johann M Cherian

Fri March 6, 2026  

It seems the experts yesterday were wrong about the jobs numbers already being discounted as they came in bad and the market reacted badly. All three indexes went straight down right out the gate and stayed there all day with the Dow and Nasdaq suffering major 3-digit losses and the S&P within a stone’s throw of 3-digits. In fact, in the morning, the Dow was down almost 1,000 points again. A boost in new jobs was expected but instead more than 90,000 jobs were lost and unemployment boosted to 4.4%.  

Wall Street closes down as oil prices spike on Middle East conflict

Wall Street closes down as oil prices spike on Middle East conflict

By Sabrina Valle and Johann M Cherian

Thu March 5, 2026  

It appears that Trump’s move to placate the oil markets by ordering U.S. naval escorts for oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz lasted only one day as today huge rout turned into a repeat of Tuesday’s with the only difference being that Tuesday recovery after a huge morning drawdown began mid-morning whereas an equally huge drawdown today didn’t begin a recovery until mid-afternoon. At 2:30 pm, the Dow was down almost 1200, the Nasdaq 300, the S&P 100 as oil prices went from $65/barrel last Friday to $71 on Monday to $85 today.  

US stocks close up on Iran diplomacy hopes; tech leads rebound

US stocks close up on Iran diplomacy hopes; tech leads rebound

By Sabrina Valle and Johann M Cherian

Wed March 4, 2026  

A day after the great flight to the exits, all three indexes shot straight up right out the gate and stayed there all day once again enjoying nice 3-digit gains that recovered a good deal of yesterday’s lost ground. The catalyst today was the dual punch of Iranian operatives reaching out to the CIA for possible talks and Trump ordering naval escorts for tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.  

Wall Street indexes end lower as Middle East conflict fans inflation fears

Wall Street indexes end lower as Middle East conflict fans inflation fears

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Johann M Cherian

Tue March 3, 2026  

Yesterday on the third day of the war, the sentiment on Wall Street was that the crisis and expected oil spike was nothing to worry about as it was going to be “very temporary” to last a few days or at most weeks.  On this the fourth day, sentiment has taken a 180 as now the war is expected to last quite a while and energy spikes will cause an inflation surge. It was a thorough rout today on all three indexes but it started out a great deal worse. At 10:30 a.m., the Dow was down some 1300 points, the Nasdaq down over 600 and the S&P, which rarely goes into 3-digits, a whopping 170.  

Wall Street ends narrowly mixed, trading volatile after air strikes on Iran

Wall Street ends narrowly mixed, trading volatile after air strikes on Iran

By Sabrina Valle and Pranav Kashyap

Mon March 2, 2026

 

The Iranian crisis and subsequent spiking oil prices (up about 12%) triggered an expected massive selloff right out the gate. The Dow opened down 600, the Nasdaq over 350, the S&P minus 80. But investors almost immediately started buying the dip with an all-day recovery as everyone started buying up tech again, especially the comfortable winners in the AI sector. Tech managed to get into the green by close as did the Dow briefly for about half an hour before falling again and closing down. It didn’t take long for the markets to shrug off the war and oil spike as very temporary.