NEW YORK, March 9, 2026, 1:14 PM EDT
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 321.95 points, or 0.68%, to 47,179.60 on Monday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.35% and the Nasdaq Composite was little changed, as an oil shock tied to the widening conflict around Iran unsettled Wall Street. Brent crude traded near $100 after a sharp jump earlier in the day, keeping investors focused on inflation rather than bargain hunting. 1
That matters now because the Dow came into Monday after its worst weekly drop since early April, and because Friday’s U.S. payrolls report showed the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. Higher fuel costs threaten to hit household spending and company margins just as growth softens, feeding stagflation fears — a mix of weak growth and stubborn inflation. 2
Traders have already started to push out hopes for easier Fed policy. Reuters reported that expectations for the next quarter-point rate cut shifted from June toward September on Monday, with another test due on Wednesday when U.S. consumer price data are released; economists expect annual CPI to hold at 2.4% in February, while the Fed’s preferred core PCE gauge later this week is seen at 3.0%. 3
Oil drove the move. Prices spiked above $119 a barrel earlier in the session before retreating, with U.S. crude still above $100 by mid-morning, and G7 finance officials stopped short of an immediate release of emergency reserves even as they kept that option on the table. 4
Travel and financial shares took the brunt, while the rebound in chip stocks kept the broader selloff from getting worse. Reuters reported that cruise lines and big banks were among the hardest hit, while SanDisk, Broadcom and Nvidia rose and helped the Nasdaq claw back early losses. 3
Dennis Dick, founder and market structure analyst at Triple D Trading, said the market had not seen a move like this in years and that “this market doesn’t even know how to handle these oil prices.” Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, wrote separately that U.S. equities still looked calm on the surface, but there were “extreme rotations and stock dispersions” underneath. 3
The Dow’s slide also bites because the index had only just crossed 50,000 for the first time on Feb. 6. The Dow is a price-weighted basket of 30 U.S. blue-chip companies, unlike the market-value-weighted S&P 500, so large moves in higher-priced members can have an outsized effect on the average. 5
There is still an argument for patience. In a Reuters analysis, research from Deutsche Bank and comments from Larry Adam at Raymond James pointed to a pattern in which U.S. stocks often recover within weeks of geopolitical shocks, even after 5% to 8% drawdowns. 6
But this spell could still get uglier. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said a 10% rise in oil prices sustained through most of the year would add 0.4 percentage point to global inflation, and urged policymakers to “think of the unthinkable”; if crude stays above $100 and inflation surprises on the upside, the Dow may face another leg lower, though U.S. officials are reviewing steps to curb fuel costs and allied governments are still discussing reserve releases. 7
