What’s News in Markets: Oil Prices Surge, Bond Selloff, and Iran Fallout

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Hey listeners, it's Saturday March 7th. I'm Hannah Aaron Lang for the Wall Street Journal.

And this is what's news in markets. Our look at the biggest moves of the week and the news that

drove them. So let's get into it. This was a really rough week for markets. Stocks declined

this week and they're now very solidly in the red this year. Investors have a lot of negative

headlines to contend with. Of course, the biggest story is war in the Middle East. A widening

conflict that began when the United States attacked Iran this past Saturday is threatening to

send shockwaves across the global economy. That would be a lot for Wall Street to digest on its own.

But let's not forget that markets didn't exactly start this past week on the strongest footing.

We still have these lingering concerns about artificial intelligence. Investors spent a lot of

last month worrying that AI could erase jobs or upend entire industries in ways we might not be

prepared for. And to top it all off, Friday's job support was a lot worse than expected.

The US economy lost 92,000 jobs. One big fear among investors is that we can see stagnation

take shape. That's when economic growth stalls but prices still rise, which could also put the

federal reserve in a tight spot when it comes to deciding whether to cut or hold interest rates.

Not great. The Dow is down 3% this week. It's worst week since the terror of turmoil that

racked markets last April. The S&P 500 felt 2% and the Nasdaq fell 1.2%.

One of the most important tickers to watch this week was the price of oil. The war with Iran has

forced a de facto closure of the Strait of Warmuz, a key shipping route for global energy.

Benchmark US crude futures surged roughly 36% this week to $90.90 a barrel. That was the

largest one-week percent gain on record. Cost of diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel have surged at

paces that echo 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This is really bad news for investors.

Rising oil prices push up consumer costs but can also cut into corporate profits,

essentially threatening economic growth across the globe. The consensus on this has evolved over

the past week. On Monday, the stock market reaction to the initial news of the US attack was

relatively muted. Investors were betting the war would be brief and contained. But as that

outlook has shifted, so has their optimism that markets and the economy will emerge unscathed.

One of the most exciting parts about being a market supporter is that the markets are always

changing. A trend can change week to week or even day to day. A few weeks ago, I wrote a story

about the surprising outperformance of international equities this year and how after years of being

focused squarely on the US, American investors were starting to look abroad because those stocks

were doing better. Yeah, not the case this past week. Global equity indexes got pummeled,

especially in Europe and Asia. South Korea's Cosby, which has been rocketing higher in 2026,

tumbled roughly 11% this week. Germany's DAX slid 6.7% and pretty much every international

stock benchmark end of the week in the red. The reason for this, once again, has to do with oil.

The United States, which receives relatively few oil shimms from the Middle East,

is insulated from a global energy fallout in ways that other countries aren't.

This is one reason why US energy stocks were some of the only stocks that rose in recent

trading days. Shares of American companies like Occidental Petroleum and Marathon Petroleum

were among the S&P 500's top performing on Friday, each rising roughly 1.8%.

And finally, I want to talk about bond yields. The war in the Middle East has halted a

week's long rally in US government bonds, pushing the yield on 10-year treasuries

back above 4% this past week. Bond yields rise when prices fall, so this essentially means bond

investors are selling. That's not typical. Stocks and bonds are supposed to work in opposite

directions, but the conflict in Iran has changed that. Once again, it all comes back to oil.

Bond investors are worried about rising energy costs and higher inflation that could erode

the value of the asset. And even Friday's disappointing job support, something that would

typically make ultra-safe treasuries look more attractive wasn't enough to make traders change

their tune. yields still ended the week above 4.1%, logging their largest one-week gains since April.

That's just bond traders, like so many other investors, are still focused on the energy markets.

And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that

moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on WSJ.com. Today's show was produced

by Alexis Moore, with the supervising producer, Janna Heron. I'm Hannah Erin Lang, have a great

weekend and see you next Saturday. Hey, this is Tellus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're

reporters at the Wall Street Journal and the hosts of WSJ's Take on the Week. It's a weekly show

that gives listeners a leg up in the world of markets and investing. From the Fed's moves to

market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players and business news ahead.

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