NEW YORK, March 27, 2026, 1:28 PM EDT.
Friday’s selling on Wall Street gathered pace, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both slumping to lows not seen in over half a year. Tech stocks bore the brunt as traders bailed, and crude prices continued higher after President Donald Trump’s 10-day ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz came up short of calming the market. By 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 305.57 points, or 0.66%; the S&P 500 slipped 0.70% to 6,432.06. The Nasdaq Composite sank 1.10%, landing at 21,171.61. Reuters
This isn’t just about Friday’s dip. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for their fifth weekly loss in a row, with the Nasdaq tipping into correction territory Thursday—Wall Street lingo for a 10% or more drop from recent highs. Investors now turn to the quarter’s close and the upcoming March jobs report, set for April 3 at 8:30 a.m. ET, when U.S. markets will be shut for Good Friday. Reuters
Oil’s spike is hitting hard. Brent crude jumped 2.36% to $110.55 a barrel, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate up 3.56% at $97.84. Over in bonds, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield pushed up to roughly 4.44%. Together, those moves are stoking inflation concerns and putting extra stress on equity valuations. Reuters
“What you’re talking about here is a level of uncertainty in the extreme,” said Bill Mann, chief investment strategist at Motley Fool Asset Management. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, climbed up to 29.01. Reuters
Tech names weighed heavily again. Nvidia slipped 1%, Microsoft sank 1.7%, Alphabet shed 1.1%, and Meta Platforms tumbled 3.5%. That dragged the S&P 500’s technology sector down 0.9%, while communication services dropped 1.3%. Reuters
Consumer stocks stumbled beyond the big tech names, though Unity Software managed to stand out. Carnival shares dropped roughly 4% as the cruise company trimmed its annual adjusted profit outlook. Unity surged 10.5% on the day, lifted by first-quarter preliminary revenue that topped Wall Street targets. Reuters
Pressure was already mounting ahead of Friday’s action. The Nasdaq slid 2.4% on Thursday, marking a correction and laying bare just how exposed the big AI names are after their long climb. Investors now wonder: Will all that AI infrastructure spending at Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon actually translate into revenue—or profit—anytime soon? Reuters
Pressure isn’t letting up for households. The University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment figure for March slipped to 53.3, down from 56.6 in February and marking the weakest level since December 2025. One-year inflation expectations edged higher, reaching 3.8% from 3.4%. Gas prices aren’t helping: AAA pegged the national average for regular at $3.978 on March 27—about a dollar more than a month ago. Institute for Social Research
Oren Klachkin, financial market economist at Nationwide, told Reuters, “We look for negative sentiment impacts to add to the drag from lower real purchasing power and wealth effects.” Joanne Hsu, who directs the Michigan survey, warned the setback might deepen if the Iran conflict continues or if higher energy prices start fueling broader inflation. Reuters
Investors are tossing out the old interest-rate script almost as quickly as oil keeps climbing. Fed funds futures, per Reuters and LSEG, have erased any bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. David Bianco, Americas chief investment officer at DWS, says the equity market is “taking very careful notice” of the higher yields—they’re changing the math on what folks will pay for future earnings. Reuters
Still, it’s a market driven by headlines. “Words alone aren’t cutting it right now,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors, noted that concrete movement in Iran negotiations could calm things, but talk of a drawn-out conflict would hit stocks again. With payrolls on April 3 and the quarter wrapping up soon, Wall Street faces another bout of volatility in either direction. Reuters
