Stocks and Bonds Tumble as US Crude Surges: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks and bonds fell while oil prices climbed after a speech from President Donald Trump did little to reassure investors that the war in the Middle East was nearing a swift resolution.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.6% amid a slide in big tech stocks and chipmakers. The S&P 500 dropped 1.2%. West Texas Intermediate jumped 12% to more than $112 a barrel after Trump’s prime time address on Wednesday pledged more aggressive action against Iran and offered no concrete plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. European diesel futures hit $200 a barrel.
The moves — a sharp contrast from the optimism that prevailed over the last two sessions — extended the pattern of late-week selloffs that have hit the market ever since the war began, as nervous investors unwind positions that could be upended if weekend developments threaten to worsen the hit to the global economy.
“There was hope earlier this week for de-escalation, but last night we got signals of escalation, and that’s being reflected in markets today,” said Mona Mahajan, Principal, Head of Investment Strategy and Asset Allocation at Edward Jones, in a note to investors. “The key question now is: what’s the off-ramp?”
Bonds fell as expectations that oil prices will stay higher for longer prompted traders to initiate fresh bets on tighter monetary policy. The two-year Treasury yield climbed to 3.82%. The dollar advanced while gold snapped a four-day streak of gains.
Shares in oil and gas companies rebounded while travel and mining and semiconductor stocks fell. Nvidia Corp. slumped 1.6%. Blue Owl Capital Inc. limited redemptions from two of its private credit funds after facing a surge in withdrawal requests.
Oil “has rarely dipped below $100 per barrel since its initial surge,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. “This may be a better indicator of where we are than the latest movements in global indices, as the world is forced to confront a situation where around 20% of the world’s supply is disrupted.”
Ahead of Friday’s March payrolls report, jobs data on Thursday gave mixed signals on the labor market. A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed a 25% increase in job-cut announcements in March from the previous month. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell in the week through March 28.
For Mabrouk Chetouane, global head of market strategies at Natixis IM Solutions, there is little sense in buying protection or hedging positions ahead of the break as events could go either way.
“The outcome is completely binary, it’s 50/50 between escalation and de-escalation,” Chetouane said. “The best choice is just to keep a cool head and maintain our allocation, it’s the most reasonable thing to do.”
What Bloomberg Strategists Say:
“With a long weekend looming thanks to tomorrow’s Good Friday, it looks like Thursday is the new Friday, particularly when one considers the potential event risks. There is also the small issue of a non-farm payroll report released tomorrow in what’s sure to be poor liquidity conditions.”
— Cameron Crise, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. Click here for the analysis.
Corporate News:
Estée Lauder Cos. and Spain’s Puig Brands SA are advancing in negotiations to combine, people familiar with the matter said. One of Europe’s biggest airline groups kicked off the race for TAP SA, with Air France-KLM submitting the first known bid for a stake in the Portuguese flag carrier. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has released its third proprietary AI model in as many days, reinforcing the company’s intent to focus on profiting off its flagship artificial intelligence services. Stellantis NV is discussing options for building electric vehicles in Canada with its Chinese partner, Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., according to people familiar with the matter. Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 1.2% as of 9:30 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.7% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3% The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.5% The MSCI World Index fell 1.4% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4% The euro fell 0.5% to $1.1527 The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3212 The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 159.60 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 3.1% to $66,095.32 Ether fell 5.4% to $2,027.9 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.34% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 3.04% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 4.91% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 12% to $112.33 a barrel Spot gold fell 3.4% to $4,598.76 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Rose Henderson, Subrat Patnaik and Isabelle Lee.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
