2026-03-26 21:05
publication
2026-03-26 21:05
The lack of progress on peace in the Middle East and unblocking the Strait of Hormuz has made Wall Street investors lose patience. Thursday's session ended with severe declines in the main stock exchange indices, an increase in oil prices and higher bond yields.
Despite the exuberant announcements of US President Donald Trump, the war with Iran is in full swing (or rather the worst). Iran rejected the 15-point American plan to end the war and declares its readiness to continue fighting the US and Israel. Such declarations by Tehran hit the market optimism regarding the resolution of the conflict in the Persian Gulf, which was still valid on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped by 2.38% and ended the session at 21,408.08 points. After losing 1.74%, the S&P500 reached 6,486.23 points, slightly deepening the six-month minimum set last week. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 1.01% and finished with a result of 45,990.11 points
American treasury bonds also became cheaper, which was reflected in rising yields. In the case of 10-year Treasuries, they rose to 4.42% and returned to near the March highs. The yield on 2-year US government bonds has reached 4%, implying at least two 25-point interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. The futures market already estimates the scenario of at least one rate increase by the Fed by the end of this year at almost 50%..
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And this is hardly surprising considering what is happening on the fuel markets. Brent crude oil prices increased by almost 5% and were again above one hundred dollars per barrel. Gasoline prices on the New York Stock Exchange increased by over 3%, and diesel in London by almost 8%. In addition, there is a risk of shortages of other critical raw materials: sulfur, helium and bromine.
– Alternating up and down movements now appear to occur at an accelerated pace. Moreover, we don't even know who Trump is negotiating with – said Doug Beath from Wells Fargo Investment Institute, quoted by Reuters. – There are many conflicting signals and a real fog of war. It's uncertainty that's driving the market right now, Beath added.
From a sectoral perspective, the technology sector performed poorly again. AMD shares fell by 7.5%, Intel by 6.5%, Arista Networks by 9.2%, and Nvidia by over 4%. Semiconductor manufacturers may be hit hardest by the costs of higher interest rates, limiting expenditure on the expansion of data centers.
The valuation of Meta Platforms (i.e. Facebook) decreased by almost 8%, while the quotations of Alphabet (i.e. the owner of Google and YouTube) decreased by 3.4%. This is the result of the first judgments imposing high penalties on social networking sites for causing psychological harm to children.
K.K
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