New York stocks tumble on oil price shock; Wall Street 'fear gauge' surges 24%

Financial News

The New York stock market fell across the board on the 6th local time.
Soaring international oil prices, driven by concerns that the war with Iran will be prolonged, slammed financial markets.
The spike in oil prices has raised fears that inflation could flare up again, prompting the Federal Reserve System (Fed) not only to shelve rate cuts but even to return to rate hikes. However, because the employment report for February released that day was weaker than expected, the prevailing view is that the Fed is unlikely to actually pivot to hikes.
Investors worry that soaring oil prices will push up companies’ costs and erode their profit margins.

Investor sentiment has swung into extreme fear.
The trigger was President of the United States Donald Trump’s demand that Iran offer an "unconditional surrender" that day. Trump had previously called for negotiations with Iran, so his abrupt shift is being read as a judgment that talks are unlikely, signaling that the war could become protracted.
In the aftermath, international oil prices broke above 90 dollars per barrel, and Qatar's energy minister warned that an era of 150-dollar oil could soon arrive.
Concerns have resurfaced that companies under mounting cost pressure will see their earnings deteriorate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) tumbled 453.19 points, or 0.95%, to close at 47,501.55. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index slid 90.69 points, or 1.33%, to 6,740.02. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 361.31 points, or 1.59%, to 22,387.68 as expectations for rate cuts receded.
All three major indexes also declined on a weekly basis.
Unusually, the Dow posted the steepest weekly loss, dropping 3.0%. The S&P 500 also fell a sizable 2.0% for the week, while the Nasdaq lost 1.2%.
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), often called Wall Street’s "fear gauge," soared 5.74 points, or 24.17%, to 29.49.

Most Big Tech stocks finished lower.
Nvidia plunged 5.52 dollars, or 3.01%, to 177.82 dollars, while Alphabet slipped 2.36 dollars, or 0.78%, to 298.52 dollars.
Microsoft (MS) fell 1.72 dollars, or 0.42%, to 408.96 dollars, and Amazon dropped 5.73 dollars, or 2.62%, to 213.21 dollars.
Tesla also slid 8.82 dollars, or 2.17%, to 396.73 dollars.
By contrast, Palantir Technologies, which has been strong since the outbreak of the war with Iran, jumped 4.49 dollars, or 2.94%, to 157.16 dollars. Palantir provides its Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), enabling the U.S. Department of Defense to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to warfare.

dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter