The S&P 500 slumped 1.7% for its worst day since January and is back on track for a fifth straight losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 469 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.4% to fall more than 10% below its all-time high set early this year.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 4.8% to settle at $101.89 as hopes dimmed for a potential return to normal for the strait. That’s up from roughly $70 before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 4.6% to $94.48 per barrel. After that, oil prices trimmed some of their gains, and Brent crude fell back toward $100 per barrel. Treasury yields also pared their big jumps in the bond market.
Trump softened his speech a bit after Wall Street ended its trading for the day saying he was delaying his threat to “obliterate” Iranian power plants to April 6, allowing more time for talks. After that, oil prices trimmed some of their gains, and Brent crude fell back toward $100 per barrel. Treasury yields also pared their big jumps in the bond market.
A report on Thursday morning said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, though the number is still low compared with historical figures. Slowing job market would typically encourage the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to juice the economy but hopes have cratered on Wall Street for a possible cut to interest rates this year, even though traders came into 2026 forecasting several. That’s because lower interest rates carry the risk of worsening inflation, and the spike in oil prices has heightened those worries.
Tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market. Meta Platforms fell 8%, and Alphabet sank 3.4% after each had held relatively steady the day before, when a jury found Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social-media addiction trial. Other Big Tech stocks too fell including drops of 4.2% for Nvidia and 2% for Amazon. Apple was an outlier and inched up 0.1%. Commercial Metals fell 4.7% after the maker of steel rebar and other products reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Stock markets likewise tumbled across much of Asia and Europe. In stock markets abroad, Germany’s DAX lost 1.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.9% and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.2%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 had one of the world’s milder losses, at 0.3%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed the session 1.2% lower, with all major bourses and most sectors in the red.
High Treasury yields and disruption in the bond market were big factors that Trump named a year ago when he backed off his initial threats for global tariffs made on “Liberation Day.” The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped as high as 4.43% Thursday from 4.33% late Wednesday and from just 3.97% before the war started. That’s a significant leap for the bond market, and it’s already sent rates higher for mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and businesses which slows the economy.