The\u00a0S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) is down -0.04%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI)\u00a0(DIA) is down -0.13%, and the\u00a0Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) is up +0.13%.\u00a0 March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) are down -0.16%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) are up +0.13%.<\/p>\n
Stocks are being pressured today by fresh disruptions in the Persian Gulf that raised doubts about President Trump\u2019s comment yesterday evening that the Iran war could end \u201cvery soon.\u201d\u00a0 In addition, the Pentagon said the US military is today conducting its most intensive day of bombing yet.\u00a0 Stocks are also being undercut by today\u2019s +1.7 bp rise in the 10-year T-note yield.<\/p>\n
An Iranian drone attack today caused the biggest refinery in the UAE at the Ruwais Industrial Complex to halt operations due to a fire in the complex.\u00a0Also, Iran\u2019s semi-official Mehr news agency reported an explosion today involving a tanker near Abu Dhabi, but no further details were available.<\/p>\n
Despite those disruptions, April WTI crude oil futures prices are down -7% today, erasing part of the sharp rally seen in the past 1-1\/2 weeks.\u00a0 Oil prices on Monday spiked to a high of $119.48 after Israel over the weekend bombed 30 Iranian fuel depots.\u00a0 However, WTI oil prices have since fallen to the $ 85-per-barrel area after President Trump said on Monday that the Iran war is \u201cpretty much\u201d over, and after G-7 finance ministers said on Monday that the G-7 nations stand ready to release oil stockpiles if needed.\u00a0 At a press conference Monday evening, President Trump was asked when the war would end, and he answered, \u201cI think soon, very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
G-7 energy ministers are meeting today beginning at 1:45pm local time (8:45 am Eastern) at the International Energy Agency in Paris, with most ministers joining remotely, according to French Finance Minister Roland Lescure.\u00a0 Mr. Lescure said today, \u201cWe are gathering the G-7 energy ministers today here in Paris; we are going through the process but obviously all options are on the table,\u201d including an emergency oil stock release.\u00a0 He added, \u201cWe are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran has shown no signs of backing down, despite the withering air campaign launched by Israel and the US.\u00a0 Iran’s Assembly of Experts over the weekend appointed hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. \u00a0Iran’s new leader has close ties to Iran’s powerful and entrenched Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).\u00a0 President Trump said he is “not happy” with the choice of the new leader.<\/p>\n
Story Continues <\/p>\n
US Feb existing home sales rose by +1.7% m\/m to 4.09 million, stronger than expectations for a decline to 3.88 million.<\/p>\n
Q4 earnings season is nearly over, with more than 95% of the S&P 500 companies having reported earnings results.\u00a0 Earnings have been a positive factor for stocks, with 74% of the 492 S&P 500 companies that have reported beating expectations.\u00a0 According to Bloomberg Intelligence, S&P earnings growth is expected to climb by +8.4% in Q4, marking the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.\u00a0 Excluding the Magnificent Seven megacap technology stocks, Q4 earnings are expected to increase by +4.6%.<\/p>\n
The markets are discounting a 0% chance for a -25 bp rate cut at the next policy meeting on March 17-18.<\/p>\n
Overseas stock markets are higher today, supported by Monday afternoon\u2019s recovery in US stocks.\u00a0 The Euro Stoxx 50 is up +2.20%, following Monday\u2019s -0.61% loss.\u00a0 China’s Shanghai Composite today closed up +0.65%.\u00a0 Japan’s Nikkei Stock 225 closed up +2.88%, recovering part of Monday\u2019s sharp -5.2% loss.<\/p>\n
Interest Rates<\/p>\n
June 10-year T-notes (ZNM6) today are up +6.5 ticks.\u00a0 The 10-year T-note yield is up +1.7 bp at 4.113%.\u00a0 The T-note yield is trading higher today amid ongoing inflation concerns, with the 10-year breakeven inflation expectations rate up +1.8 bp to 2.348%.<\/p>\n
European government bond yields are steady to lower.\u00a0 The 10-year German bund yield is unchanged at 2.859%.\u00a0 The 10-year UK gilt yield is down -6.8 bp at 4.580%.<\/p>\n
Swaps are discounting a 0% chance of a -25 bp rate hike by the ECB at its next policy meeting on March 19.<\/p>\n
US Stock Movers<\/p>\n
The Magnificent Seven technology stocks are mixed today.\u00a0 Meta Platforms (META)and\u00a0Tesla\u00a0(TSLA)\u00a0are up more than +1%, while\u00a0Microsoft (MSFT)\u00a0is down nearly -1%.<\/p>\n
Oil stocks are trading mostly lower due to today\u2019s sharp decline in oil prices.\u00a0 Occidental Petroleum (OXY)\u00a0is down more than -3%.\u00a0 Devon Energy (DVN) and ConocoPhillips (COP)\u00a0are down more than -1%.<\/p>\n
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise\u00a0(HPE)\u00a0is down about -1% after reporting slightly weaker-than-expected revenue, although other results beat expectations.<\/p>\n
AT&T\u00a0(T)\u00a0is up +0.6% after saying it will spend more than $250 billion over the next five years to expand its telecom network infrastructure in the US, more than doubling its recent capital investment.<\/p>\n
Casey\u2019s General Stores\u00a0(CASY)\u00a0is up nearly +2% despite reporting disappointing revenue for fiscal Q3.<\/p>\n
Strategy Inc\u00a0(MSTR) is up +0.2%,\u00a0and Strive Inc\u00a0(ASST)\u00a0\u00a0is up +0.6% after B. Riley Securities initiated coverage of the Bitcoin treasury companies with buy ratings.<\/p>\n
Earnings Reports(3\/10\/2026)<\/p>\n
Oracle Corp (ORCL).<\/p>\n
On the date of publication, Rich Asplund did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally\u00a0published on Barchart.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) is down -0.04%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI)\u00a0(DIA) is down -0.13%, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[7267,34,2610,7266,261,39,722,6407],"class_list":{"0":"post-13480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-energy-ministers","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-nasdaq-futures","11":"tag-new-york-stock-exchange","12":"tag-oil-prices","13":"tag-persian-gulf","14":"tag-president-trump","15":"tag-roland-lescure"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116207518236395862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}