New York, March 27, 2026, 07:06 EDT
Stocks worldwide slipped again Friday, with U.S. futures drifting as traders digested President Donald Trump’s decision to extend the Iran Strait of Hormuz deadline to April 6. The move left oil and bond markets largely unmoved. By the middle of the European session, the STOXX 600 had dropped 0.8%. U.S. stock-index futures hovered near flat before the bell. Reuters
Thursday’s slide landed hard, marking Wall Street’s steepest single-day loss since the Iran war kicked off. The S&P 500 dropped 1.7%, the Dow slipped 1%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 2.4%. That left the Nasdaq, stuffed with tech names, nearly 11% off its Oct. 29 record close — deep enough for correction territory. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are now staring down five consecutive weekly declines. Reuters
Oil, rates, and growth have become the battlefield for investors right now. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moves through the Strait of Hormuz. CME FedWatch numbers, according to Reuters, indicate traders have written off any chance of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year as renewed conflict stirs up inflation concerns. Reuters
Sellers hit Europe, with Frankfurt and Madrid logging the steepest drops. Fresh data pointed to a much weaker March for private-sector growth. Over in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi both lost 0.4%. Hong Kong and Shanghai eked out small advances. Reuters
“Words alone aren’t cutting it right now,” said Matt Britzman, a senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, following Trump’s decision to extend the pause on strikes targeting Iranian energy facilities. IG’s chief markets analyst Chris Beauchamp doesn’t expect stocks to stabilize unless negotiations specifically address reopening Hormuz. Reuters
Oil didn’t budge from the spotlight. Brent crude climbed 1.73% to $109.88 a barrel as of 0954 GMT. U.S. crude pushed 1.66% higher, reaching $96.05. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield punched up to 4.456%, a level not seen since July, and Germany’s 10-year yield ticked up as well, touching its highest mark since 2011. Reuters
The Nasdaq dropped, with losses piling up in the usual tech heavyweights. Meta, Nvidia, and Alphabet led the decline Thursday. Meta shares tumbled 8% after juries found the company liable for damages tied to young users. Reuters
Wall Street calls it a correction when stocks pull back at least 10% from a recent high. In 2026, the Nasdaq’s fallen close to 8%, sinking to lows not seen since early September 2025. It’s another sign the war is weighing on a market already uneasy over how soon big AI investments might deliver returns. Reuters
The weekend remains a wildcard. Macquarie analysts are calling for oil to drop quickly if the war cools off soon, though prices probably won’t return to where they were before the conflict. If the conflict stretches through late June, they expect crude to reach $200 a barrel. Meanwhile, talk of Trump possibly deploying more ground troops is adding to investor nerves. Reuters
Traders aren’t straying far from oil at the moment. “War longevity, not just headlines,” is driving prices, Phillip Nova’s Priyanka Sachdeva said. The “scale of supply at risk remains significant,” ING’s Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson wrote. Reuters
