Stock Market Summary – March 02, 2026

The stock market was impacted by the US-Israeli attack on Iran over the weekend, with Dow futures down about 500 points and global oil benchmark Brent crude spiking more than 8%. The conflict has also caused rerouting of oil tankers to avoid the Strait of Hormuz and fears of sustained supply disruptions. This has led Citigroup to raise its price target on several energy names including Chevron and Exxon.

In other market news, Piper Sandler upgraded CrowdStrike to buy from hold and Barclays cut its price targets on alternative asset managers but kept buy ratings on KKR, Ares Management, and Apollo Global. JPMorgan also upgraded Netflix from hold to buy.

In terms of the biggest gainers and loosers, AeroVironment suffered a 20% dip after Raymond James downgraded the stock to underperform. Meanwhile, oil stocks like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips gained around 1-2% following US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The conflict also saw a boost for defense stocks with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman up by about 2% and 3.5% respectively.

Retail investors showed strong interest in ETF XLE which saw a buying surge of over 425% relative to the same period last week. This was due to escalating oil prices. Also, retail investors net bought over $14 million worth of the XLE fund in the first hour of trading.

The conflict has also led to mortgage rates rising to 6.12%, reversing last week’s decline. Furthermore, the conflict has made crude oil prices surge, raising inflation worries and pushing yields higher. This indicates inflation may be facing renewed pressure from geopolitical shocks and underlying cost trends.

Finally, lawmaker Marco Rubio has planned to brief Congress this week about the weekend attack on Iran, especially concerning the part the conflict plays in inflation. Democrats particularly questioned the legality of the strikes.