Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday, March 9, 2026 in New York, USA.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen since the beginning of the week as US crude oil prices fell below $100 per barrel amid growing concerns about the stagflationary environment in the US economy, with rising inflation and slowing growth.
The 30-stock index fell 328 points, or 0.7%, emerging from its biggest weekly decline in nearly a year. of S&P500 Although it decreased by 0.2%, Nasdaq Composite It increased by 0.2%. This represents a meaningful turnaround for the three indexes, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 900 points, or 1.9%, at the day’s low, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each down about 1.5%.
Rising semiconductor stocks pulled the entire market off its lows. broadcom While it rose more than 4%, micron technology and advanced micro device Each rose about 3%. Nvidia It increased by more than 1%.
west texas intermediate Oil prices topped $100 a barrel in overnight trading, rising above $119, the first time the oil price has surpassed the $100 level since 2022, when investors were reacting to the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last time, prices rose 4% to around $95 per barrel. international benchmark brent Oil prices rose 7% to $99 per barrel. U.S. oil prices have fallen below $60 per barrel since the beginning of the year.
Oil prices soared as major Middle East producers cut production as the vital Strait of Hormuz passage remained closed. Kuwait announced cuts but did not say by how much, while production in Iraq reportedly fell by 70%.
To address supply disruptions, energy ministers from the group of seven countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – will hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the potential release of oil reserves. The group’s finance ministers met on Monday to discuss his release, but no decision was reached.
This comes after an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned that oil tankers passing through the strait “need to exercise extreme caution.”
The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge that measures investors seeking protection in the options market, rose above 30 for the first time since the tariff-induced market crash in April 2025. It was over 26 at the end.
Many on Wall Street saw the $100 oil level as a breaking point for the economy unless the war was resolved quickly and prices fell. President Donald Trump posted Sunday night that higher “short-term oil prices” are a “very small price to pay” to defeat Iran’s nuclear threat.
The war showed little sign of slowing down, according to reports, despite Iran appointing Khamenei’s son Mojtaba as its new supreme leader and President Trump claiming the country had “already won.”
“If investors start expecting a 1970s redux stagfreight scenario, we cannot rule out the possibility of a bear market,” said Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. “If the oil crisis continues, the Fed’s dual mandate will be caught between increasing the risk of higher inflation and higher unemployment.”
Yardeni said he remains optimistic that the war will be resolved within weeks, adding that the base scenario remains a technology-driven economic boom and bull market.
—CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report
