New York, March 3, 2026, 18:32 EST — After-hours
Western Digital (WDC.O) shares dropped roughly 7.2% to $250.61 in after-hours trading Tuesday. Earlier, the Nasdaq-listed hard-drive maker touched an intraday low of $244.89.
The drop hit a market already on its heels, as investors dumped stocks and bonds in favor of cash. “Oil, and the dollar, are the only two things that people want to own right now,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management. 1
Investors are wrestling with how to factor in the duration of the Middle East conflict—and what persistent energy prices could mean for inflation. “The reality is setting in that a prolonged conflict could dampen global growth and re‑ignite inflation pressures,” Joseph Tanious, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust Asset Management, said to Reuters. 2
The S&P 500 closed off 0.94%, with the Nasdaq dropping 1.02%—both paring steeper declines that had topped 2% earlier as rising Treasury yields weighed. The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX), Wall Street’s so-called “fear gauge,” climbed to its highest point since November, Reuters reported. 3
Western Digital shares slid, echoing the wider slump in memory and storage names. Seagate Technology lost around 5.8%. Micron Technology dropped close to 8%, while Sandisk sank roughly 8.6%.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Tuesday, CEO Irving Tan emphasized that longer-term customer deals are changing the old “two-quarter” cycle dynamics. “We have 1 of our top 5 hyperscalers that has given us orders … through to calendar year 2028,” Tan said. He also mentioned all seven of the top clients have locked in firm purchase orders, or POs, covering calendar 2026. 4
Western Digital announced Feb. 13 that both its CEO and CFO were slated to appear at Morgan Stanley’s conference, with a replay of their remarks set to go up on the company’s investor website after the presentation. 5
Feb. 3: The company bumped up its share buyback program by another $4 billion. Tan pointed to the decision as a signal of WD’s faith in its outlook, while also emphasizing priorities like shareholder returns, reinvestment, and cutting debt. 6
The stock’s acting as a high-beta stand-in for moves in rates and geopolitics—valuation-driven tech names get knocked when oil or yields surge. On Monday, a Reuters analysis pointed out the war injects more uncertainty into a U.S. economy that, up until now, had been weathering shocks better than expected. 7
Oil prices jumped, with Brent closing at $81.40 a barrel, up 4.7%. U.S. crude didn’t lag far behind, finishing at $74.56, up 4.4%. That move came just before traders look to Wednesday’s U.S. government inventory report. For Western Digital shareholders, attention shifts to the $0.125 dividend per share, payable March 18 to those on the books as of March 5. 8
