【US Stock Market Update】Bassent: US Allows Iranian Vessels to Pass Through Strait of Hormuz; Dow Up 477 Points, Oil Prices Fall 1% (Continuously Updated)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen, in an interview with CNBC, stated that the United States does not mind some Iranian, Indian, and Chinese ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. She believes Iran allowing ships to pass is a natural development and hopes the global oil supply remains sufficient. She also mentioned that any measures aimed at easing rising oil prices will depend on the duration of the Iran conflict.

Brent crude oil futures rose by 2%, reaching as high as $106.50, but after Yellen’s comments, it turned lower, currently at $101.77, down 1.3%. The U.S. dollar index is relatively soft, at 99.98, down 0.6%, slipping below 100.

The Middle East war enters its third week. U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, with the Dow up 477 points at 47,036, the S&P 500 up 73 points at 6,706, and the Nasdaq up 292 points or 1.3% at 22,397. This week’s focus includes the U.S. February PPI release on Tuesday and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision early Thursday Hong Kong time. Major central banks such as the European Central Bank, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan will also hold meetings this week. Additionally, Micron (NASDAQ: MU) will announce earnings after market close on Wednesday.

In key stocks, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) rose 2%. The company held its GTC conference on Monday (16th), with market expectations that this GTC will signal three key developments: (1) helping integrate Groq technology to enter the AI inference market; (2) potential first-time chip manufacturing partnership with Samsung to break TSMC’s monopoly, with OpenAI possibly becoming one of the first major clients; (3) further expansion of AI robotics, open-source models, and ecosystem.

Data center company Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS) surged 12%, announcing on Monday that starting early 2027, it will provide Meta with $1.2 billion in dedicated computing capacity. Meta also committed to purchasing up to an additional $1.5 billion in computing capacity. Meta’s stock rose 3%.

Hong Kong stocks and ADR markets are continuously updating. For details, see: Next Page

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Market Highlights:

【21:30】Yellen: U.S. does not mind Chinese ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz; Dow rises 369 points, oil prices fall 1%

【18:50】Middle East war enters its third week; Dow futures up 152 points, Nasdaq futures up 0.7%; this week is a “super rate decision week”

【13:47】Dow futures up 226 points, at 47,112; S&P futures up 39 points, at 6,724; Nasdaq futures up 147 points or 0.6%, at 24,753

【12:59】【AI + Chips】Tesla to make its own chips? Elon Musk announces launch of giant AI chip factory “Terafab”

【12:06】【AI + Gemini】Hong Kong also uses Gemini! Google: will further expand Gemini to all users in Hong Kong, starting with web version, mobile app coming later

【11:07】【Xi-Trump Meeting】Trump says “possible delay” in meeting with President Xi Jinping

【10:14】【Iran Crisis】IEA: Over 400 million barrels of emergency oil reserves soon to be released, prioritizing Asia; Europe and the U.S. need to wait until late March

【19:28】【Gold Price Trend】Gold falls below $5,000, as Middle East war enters its third week and oil prices continue to rise

【11:36】【Iran Crisis】U.S. Energy Secretary: Cannot guarantee oil prices will fall within weeks; military facilities targeted first before securing the strait (ongoing updates)

【07:30】【Global Weekly Outlook】This week is a “super rate decision week” globally; Fed expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday

【07:30】As tensions in the Middle East escalate again, U.S. stocks declined last Friday; Dow opened slightly higher, gaining up to 446 points, then fluctuated and fell 183 points, closing at 46,558, down 119 points; S&P down 0.61%; Nasdaq down 0.93%.

See U.S. stock market close:

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Market movements last week, details at: 【U.S. Stock Market Close】 Preview of next week’s Iran focus, Dow down 119 points, Brent crude up 2.7% over $103