Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell on March 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n
U.S. equities fell on Thursday, while oil prices remained elevated as Wall Street watches for more developments in the Iran war.<\/p>\n
The Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> was down 344 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500<\/a> and Nasdaq Composite<\/a> slipped 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively. The S&P 500 traded below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May 23.<\/p>\n Brent crude futures<\/a>, the international benchmark, surged 3% to $111 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures<\/a> were up 1% at $97 a barrel. <\/p>\n The spike in international oil follows Iran striking a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility<\/a> in Qatar as well as an attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field by Israel. Iran then retaliated by hitting Qatari energy facilities.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a> warned<\/a> that if more facilities in Qatar were attacked, the U.S. would “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field.”<\/p>\n “The core dilemma of the entire situation remains the same: the U.S. and Israel have ‘won’ the war in a conventional sense, but there doesn’t seem to be a military solution for reopening Hormuz absent the deployment of ground troops, which means the waterway isn’t likely to return to normal without some type a diplomatic settlement (and it doesn’t appear at the moment like much effort is being put into achieving one),” said Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.<\/p>\n With traffic in the key Strait of Hormuz passageway largely at a standstill<\/a>, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan expressed in a joint statement Thursday their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Micron Technology<\/a> shares came under pressure<\/a>, losing 2%. Citi analysts in particular attributed the move to just “some profit taking,” given that a memory supply shortage helped the semiconductor company nearly triple its revenue<\/a> in its most recent quarter.<\/p>\n Wall Street is coming off a dismal trading session. On Wednesday, the 30-stock Dow tumbled to a new closing low for the year. The benchmark, which also touched an intraday low for 2026, even closed below its 200-day moving average, a technical level suggesting the long-term trend for the index is now negative. <\/p>\n The sell-off comes after a surprisingly hot producer prices report<\/a>, and greater inflation expectations from the Federal Reserve, added to fears that the war in Iran could mean the U.S. economy is headed for a stagflation scenario \u2014 or a period of lower growth and higher pricing pressures. <\/p>\n