Traders work on the ground of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the opening bell in New York on March 12, 2026.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
The S&P 500 fell on Friday, whereas oil costs prolonged their positive factors as traders awaited additional developments within the Iran warfare.
The broad-based index shed 0.61%, placing it 5% beneath its latest excessive and shutting at 6,632.19. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.93% to finish at 22,105.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 119.38 factors, or 0.26%, and settled at 46,558.47.
The S&P 500, which scored a brand new low for 2026 on Friday, posted a 1.6% loss this week and notched its first three-week shedding streak in a couple of yr. The 30-stock Dow slid about 2%, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.3% week thus far.
S&P 500, year-to-date
The latest rally in oil costs continued on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 3.11% at $98.71 per barrel. Brent futures settled increased by 2.67% at $103.14 a barrel. Brent had closed above $100 for the primary time since August 2022 on Thursday.
Stocks got here off a shedding session as oil spiked within the earlier session after Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei mentioned that the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route, ought to stay shut as a “tool to pressure the enemy.” Traffic within the Strait has nearly been halted for the reason that U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on the finish of February, leaving traders anxiously awaiting progress on that entrance.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed concerns that the passageway’s closure within the wake of the warfare breaking out would stay an issue, saying throughout a press briefing on the Pentagon, “We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it.”
This comes amid growing fears on Wall Street that rising oil costs will result in a stagflationary setting of upper inflation and slower financial progress. Those fears have even prompted traders to dampen their expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this yr, as fed funds futures buying and selling is now not anticipating an rate of interest minimize in September.
“Earnings are pretty good, but sentiment is difficult,” mentioned David Aspell, chief funding officer of worldwide macro at Mount Lucas Management. “The oil part of the sentiment and equity valuation embeds an interest rate path which is now being questioned.”
