Markets News, March 10, 2026: U.S. Indexes End Day Mostly Lower as Investors Digest Iran Developments; Oil Pulls Back

Major stock indexes closed Tuesday mostly lower, while oil prices fell, as investors digested developments in the Iran war.

The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended fractionally higher.

Yesterday, the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Dow all ended higher, with the Dow finishing up nearly 240 points after erasing an almost 900-point decline. The indexes rallied after President Donald Trump told CBS News that “the war is very complete, pretty much” and the price of oil fell.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil-price benchmark, were down more than 8% to $87 a barrel at 4 p.m. ET. They had plunged below $77 after Energy Secretary Chris Wright wrote in an X post that “The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.” He later deleted the post and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Navy “has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time.”

Early Monday, oil futures had surged above $119 a barrel—their highest level since 2022—before paring gains after Group of Seven finance ministers said they could release oil from their strategic reserves to offset disruptions. Later, after Trump told CBS News that ships were moving through the Strait of Hormuz and he was “thinking about taking it over,” WTI futures turned lower.

“What I’m really focused on for the longer term is, to the extent that oil prices stay higher for longer, does that start to leak into inflation expectations, and does that derail this kind of disinflation story that’s been playing out for the last 12 to 18 months,” said John Belton, portfolio manager of the Gabelli Growth Fund. “That is, to me, the most actionable risk to equities as things stand today.”

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of consumer loans, rose to above 4.15% from Monday’s close of 4.10%. Gold futures advanced nearly 2% to $5,200 an ounce, while silver jumped 4.7% to $88.50 an ounce.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.3% to 98.92. Bitcoin was trading around $70,000, up from overnight lows around $68,400.

All of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks but Microsoft (MSFT) finished higher a day after all seven rallied. Memory stocks Sandisk (SNDK) and Western Digital (WDC), which soared 7% yesterday, rose roughly 5% and 1.5% further, respectively, today.

In post-earnings moves, U.S.-listed shares of Chinese EV maker NIO (NIO) popped 15%, Kohl’s (KSS) shares ended 1.6% lower, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) stock was down 3.3%. Oracle (ORCL) shares finished 1.3 lower ahead of its results after markets close.