NEW YORK, March 17, 2026, 2:28 PM EDT
- The Dow climbed 0.92% on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both up 0.66%. Every one of the S&P’s 11 major sectors ended the session in positive territory.
- Stronger revenue guidance from Delta and American sent airline shares higher; Uber shares climbed, unveiling plans for a robotaxi launch in partnership with Nvidia.
- Goldman Sachs is warning that a sharp oil supply disruption might drag the S&P 500 close to 5,400 before year-end.
Stocks climbed Tuesday, extending Monday’s recovery. Investors eyed the Federal Reserve and shrugged off another uptick in oil prices tied to the Middle East conflict. Early on, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 432.97 points; the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.66% each, and every one of the S&P’s 11 main sectors traded higher.
Now, investors are left wondering if the oil shock will linger and force rates to stay elevated. Futures show just over a single quarter-point cut expected by the end of the year—less than half of what was priced in just days ago. “Too many moving parts” for policymakers to get a clear read on the economy, said Peter Andersen of Andersen Capital Management. Reuters
Monday’s action was clear enough: the S&P 500 jumped 1.01%, notching its best single-day run in more than a month as crude prices backed off and buyers circled AI stocks again. According to James McCann at Edward Jones, market watchers might view cues from the Fed meeting this week “with a pinch of salt”—oil, he pointed out, has the power to reshape the outlook in a hurry. Reuters
Airlines and travel stocks took another jump Tuesday. Delta bumped up its first-quarter revenue outlook, and American followed suit with its own revision. Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian told investors that the story this quarter was all about “revenue demand” — March sales climbed roughly 25% year-on-year. American’s Robert Isom pointed to momentum carrying “into April and May,” a signal that also lifted United, Southwest, Alaska Air, and JetBlue, this despite jet fuel costs surging over 50% since late February. Reuters
Uber jumped 5.1% on word it’s teaming up with Nvidia to roll out robotaxis in Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2027, targeting 28 cities the following year. Dara Khosrowshahi called it a “multi-player” autonomous-vehicle ecosystem, with Alphabet’s Waymo still leading and Tesla touting future plans for its own fleet. Nvidia picked up momentum, too—at its GTC conference, Jensen Huang declared, “The inference inflection has arrived” (referring to the phase where AI responds to real-time requests). Emarketer’s Jacob Bourne flagged Nvidia’s $1 trillion-plus opportunity through 2027, saying it “underscores the durable demand” for the company’s AI infrastructure. Reuters
Not all stocks climbed. Honeywell slipped—management flagged that shipping snags into the Middle East may shift some first-quarter revenue out to later in the year, though CEO Vimal Kapur described it as a “tactical issue.” Eli Lilly was also under pressure after HSBC lowered its rating to reduce from hold. Reuters
The rally, though, remains vulnerable; oil can’t spike and stay up for long without trouble. Goldman Sachs is warning that a severe supply shock might knock the S&P 500 all the way down to around 5,400 this year—nearly 19% under Friday’s close. Still, their year-end target holds at 7,600.
Still, options pricing isn’t flashing the same alarm it did right after the Feb. 28 Iran strikes. The S&P 500 has yet to recover all the way, sitting roughly 2% under its level before the conflict. Scott Nations pointed out that fears of a “tail event”—that’s market speak for a sharp, sudden drop—have eased. But traders are already looking ahead: the next hurdle for stocks comes with Wednesday’s Fed statement and comments from Chair Jerome Powell. Reuters
