Briefing

• Market Snapshot

  • Dow: 45165.53, -793.47 (-1.73%)
  • Nasdaq: 20948.37, -459.72 (-2.15%)
  • SP 500: 6370.84, -108.31 (-1.67%)
  • NYSE: Adv 599, Dec 2153, Vol 1.26 bln
  • Nasdaq: Adv 980, Dec 3784, Vol 8.77 bln

• Industry Watch

  • Strong: Energy, Consumer Staples, Utilities
  • Weak: Consumer Discretionary, Information Technology, Communication Services, Financials, Industrials, Health Care, Real Estate, Materials

• Moving the Market

  • Rising oil prices as Iran conflict remains without de-escalation path
  • Lingering weakness in mega-cap names after weak showing yesterday
  • Broader market mostly lower, some rotational interest in more defensive holdings

• Market Overview

  • Stock market retreated considerably, major averages finished lower across the board for the week.
  • S&P 500 (-1.7%), Nasdaq Composite (-2.2%), and DJIA (-1.7%) faced broad pressure.
  • Oil prices climbed (+5.4%) to $99.51 per barrel amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, fueling anxiety over potential ground conflict.
  • Pentagon considering sending additional 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East.
  • VIX surged 13.3% to 31.08, indicating heightened unease.
  • Major averages slipped further below 200-day moving averages.
  • U.S. Treasuries had a mixed showing; 2-year note yield down, 10-year note yield up.
  • Gold rebounded but logged a weekly loss; U.S. Dollar Index up.

• Sector Performance

  • Strong:
    • Energy (+1.9%) was a standout, finishing week with 6.3% gain.
    • Defensive Consumer Staples (+0.8%) and Utilities (+0.6%) saw rotational gains.
  • Weak:
    • Consumer Discretionary (-3.1%) faced widest loss, hurt by cruise lines (fuel prices) and mega-caps (AMZN, TSLA).
    • Communication Services (-2.3%) and Information Technology (-2.0%) weighed by mega-caps, including Meta Platforms.
    • Software names (Datadog) saw acute losses in tech.
    • Financials retreated; Citigroup, Coinbase, Robinhood down.
    • Smaller-cap stocks (Russell 2000, S&P Mid Cap 400) also lower.
    • Only Energy sector (+12.6% MTD) on pace for March gain; others (Communication Services, Health Care, Industrials, Materials) flirt with double-digit month-to-date losses.

• Individual Stock Movers

  • Up: Entergy (ETR) on Meta agreement, Brown-Forman (BF-B) on acquisition interest, LyondellBasell (LYB).
  • Down: Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), Carnival (CCL), Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA), Meta Platforms (META) (jury liable in social media addiction trial), Datadog (DDOG), Citigroup (C), Coinbase Global (COIN), Robinhood Markets (HOOD), Align Tech (ALGN), Starbucks (SBUX).

• Economic Data

  • University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for March final reading fell to 53.3, driven by rising gas prices and falling stock prices.