Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American (AMEX) in New York City, U.S., March 9, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stocks rose on Tuesday in choppy trading, building on the comeback from the previous session, as oil prices pulled back and traders kept an eye on the Iran war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 402 points, or 0.9%, adding to a 239-point gain on Monday. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%. The Dow had lost as much as 296.57 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, at their lows.
Oil prices, which spiked to nearly $120 a barrel Monday at height of fear around the Iran conflict, fell sharply as traders believed a group of countries would tap emergency crude reserves to mitigate disruption caused by the conflict. West Texas Intermediate futures were last down 18% to trade at around $78 a barrel. Brent crude shed 15% to roughly $84 a barrel.
The International Energy Agency said it would meet later on Tuesday to discuss a release of oil stockpiles. The members will “assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks […] available to the market,” IEA chief Fatih Birol said in a statement.
The Dow extended its gains as oil fell to new session lows. Shares of companies that would benefit from a pullback in oil prices relieving pressure on the global economy led the gains, including Caterpillar and Honeywell. Banks including Bank of America and Citigroup and retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot were also higher.
Wall Street is coming off a wild session in which the Dow erased a more than 800-point deficit as crude prices eased. The turnaround was fueled by President Donald Trump on Monday hinting that the conflict could end soon. He later said, “We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective.”
To be sure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that “today will be our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.” He also said that Iran is “badly losing.”
Mike Sanders of Madison Investments anticipates that if prices drop back to the low $70s and $60s range, it won’t be a big deal for the economy.
“If we stay elevated — which there should probably be a little bit more of a premium in the market, given all the uncertainty that we have — I do think it’s going to matter,” the portfolio manager and head of fixed income said. “It’s going to take a while to work its way through.”
The Dow lost 3% last week for its worst performance in nearly a year as oil prices ramped higher.