Stock Market Today: Live Updates & News

by Archynetys Economy Desk

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 19, 2026 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Stocks fell on Friday as traders kept monitoring the Iran war, with the major averages on pace to record another losing week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 257 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2%.

The moves come after Iran and Israel exchanged strikes overnight, while the former also launched new attacks against energy sites in the Persian Gulf region. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials, that the Pentagon is sending thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East.

“If this is an escalation involving troops on the ground, then we’re probably in for at least a couple more weeks of this sort of market of higher oil prices, high gas prices; you’re hanging on every headline about energy infrastructure in the region,” Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield said to CNBC. “Quite frankly, equity markets haven’t sold off in a way that would reflect this sort of event yet, so there could still be some some downside ahead.”

President Donald Trump also continued his attacks on NATO, calling it a “paper tiger” without the U.S. “Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices,” he said in a Truth Social post.

Crude prices were kept in check for the day, as West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures hovered around the flatline. Still, WTI and Brent are up more than 40% since the war began.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was assisting the U.S. “in intel and other means” to open the Strait of Hormuz. He added that Iran had lost the ability to enrich uranium and produce ballistic missiles and that the conflict may end faster than many fear.

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SPX since U.S.-Iran war began

Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said Friday marks the 15th trading day of the conflict so far.

“That is on average when we bottom out in U.S. equities after a geopolitical shock,” he said. “However, it would be hard to trade on the back of averages at the moment with so much uncertainty, so headlines will be more important than history here, but if you’re looking for optimism the normal geopolitical playbook would at least give you hope. So far we haven’t deviated from it.”

The stock market could face additional volatility Friday due to the so-called quadruple witching event — the quarterly expiration of stock options, index options, index futures and single-stock futures that occurs four times a year. As trillions of dollars in derivatives roll off the board, the event tends to lead to heavier trading volumes and sharper intraday swings thanks to investors rebalancing or unwinding positions.

Meanwhile, fears that inflation is reigniting and that rate cuts from the Federal Reserve are off the table pushed Treasury yields higher on Friday, further contributing to the day’s weakness.

4-week losing streak

The major averages are on pace to post their fourth losing week in a row. The S&P 500 and Dow are down 0.9% and 1.5% in that time, while the Nasdaq has lost 0.8%.

Both the Dow and Nasdaq are also nearing correction territory. The Dow is 8.6% below its record close set Feb. 10, and the Nasdaq sits more than 8% away from its all-time closing high reached Oct. 29.

Still, with the S&P 500 holding around 5% off its all-time high, Unlimited CEO Bob Elliott said he thinks the market is still too optimistic about the impact the war could have on earnings and the economy.

“When you look at stocks compared to bonds, the markets are pricing in stronger growth since the beginning of this conflict. That doesn’t make any sense,” he told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” in an interview. “Households basically getting something like 1% to 2% of real purchasing power taken away from them, even if this conflict resolves tomorrow.”

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Yun Li contributed reporting.

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