Daily Market Report – March 26, 2026
March 26, 2026, around 1:30 PM ET: Today's trading was once again dominated by the Iran war. Donald Trump increased pressure on Tehran, urging Iran to "get serious"; otherwise, the USA and Israel would "blow them away." At the same time, he stated that Iran now has the chance to permanently abandon its nuclear ambitions and take a new path. Tehran responded with sharp rejection: a senior Iranian official called the American proposal "one-sided and unfair" and declared that there was still no solid basis for negotiations. This very contradiction caused hopes for a quick de-escalation to evaporate. Accordingly, Brent (TVC:UKOIL) temporarily jumped back above $107, while the stock markets retreated: the S&P 500 (SP:SPX) fell by about 1.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ:IXIC) dropped around 2%. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 (INDEX:STOXX) fell by 1.2% to 580.59 points; the Dax (XETR:DAX) closed 1.5% lower at 22,613.
The yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds (TVC:US10Y) rose to over 4.4%, while the two-year yield increased to 3.9%; the dollar index (TVC:DXY) climbed to 99.75, while the euro to dollar (FX_IDC:EURUSD) fell to 1.1544 and the dollar to yen (FX_IDC:USDJPY) rose to 159.53. Gold (TVC:GOLD) declined despite the geopolitical situation, trading temporarily below $4,400 per ounce. However, the real driver remained oil: Brent (TVC:UKOIL) recently rose to $107 and WTI (TVC:USOIL) to $94; Barclays warned that a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could reduce supply by 13 to 14 million barrels per day.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) fell by 7%. Investors fear a wave of lawsuits following two jury verdicts that could further undermine the existing protection under Section 230 and attack the company's advertising model. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) also came under pressure for the same reason, dropping by 2.8% as Google was also found liable in one of the proceedings.