Global economic updates, market sentiment, and financial headlines.
The Dow tumbled more than 1,000 points on Tuesday after gasoline prices spiked overnight and oil rocketed above $83 a barrel as the widening conflict in Iran began to disrupt global energy supplies.
The Opening Trade team delivers special coverage of UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Spring Statement. Anna Edwards and Tom Mackenzie anchor the program, joined by UK Correspondent Lizzy Burden and Bloomberg Head of Economics and Government Stephanie Flanders.
Speaking at a financial conference in Washington, the New York Fed President outlined a forecast of steady economic conditions this year, with moderate economic growth and declining unemployment and inflation.
Barry Knapp, Ironsides Macroeconomics managing partner, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the latest market trends, state of the economy, impact of Iran conflict on energy prices, the Fed's rate path outlook, and more.
Widespread selling at the open Wall Street has opened sharply lower, with heavy selling across the board in early trade. The Dow Jones is down over 1,000 points or 2.3% at 47,843, while the Nasdaq has dropped 2.2% and the S&P 500 has fallen 2.1%.
American consumers and businesses are taking most of the hit from President Donald Trump's tariffs, New York Fed President John Williams said in remarks that counter White House claims. A study Williams cited on the issue has generated a fair amount of controversy over the past few weeks, with White House economist Kevin Hassett saying the authors should be "disciplined.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sent a rulemaking plan for prediction markets to the President's Office of Management and Budget, kicking off the process to write new rules for the controversial, but fast-growing markets.
The expectations which impact our investment realities deal in large part with numbers. Numbers, like prices or earnings per share, are precise but mean different things to different people at different times.
I maintain a constructive outlook on the S&P 500, targeting 7,700-8,000 by year-end 2026 despite near-term volatility. Geopolitical tensions, particularly Iran-related risks, may drive short-term corrections of 5-8%, with a 20-25% probability of a deeper 10% pullback.
The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran add yet more question marks around a U.S. economy already buffeted by on-and-off tariffs, weak hiring, and lingering inflationary pressures.The war has already raised oil prices and could lift prices at the pump as early as this week, but the ultimate impact on the economy and inflation will depend on the length and severity of the conflict, economists say. Should it wind down in a week or two, its economic effects would be minor and short-lived.Yet a longer war that pushed oil past $100 a barrel for an extended period would worsen inflation, at least temporarily, while slowing growth and intensifying Americans' unhappiness with the cost of essentials.
Geopolitical shocks caused initial market volatility, but equities recovered as investors bought the dip despite surging oil prices. Rising oil prices, now at $71/barrel, are set to push gasoline costs higher, threatening consumer sentiment and potentially impacting the upcoming election.
Luxury stocks fell heavily following the weekend attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel. The Middle East has been one of the few bright spots in a sector that is struggling to get sales back on track.
Moses Ventures Founder Danny Moses, immortalized in The Big Short, joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss the state of US markets as the Iran conflict introduces a new set of headwinds. Moses also weighs in on the state of private credit, saying that today's private credit worries "rhyme with previous cycles" of market pessimism, in particular the lead-up to the 2008 Great Financial Crisis.
The prospect of a drawn-out war in the Middle East sparked a broad and brutal selloff on Tuesday, and one of the best trades of 2026 got hammered.
Markets expect a “Venezuela II” scenario in which the bad guy falls, order returns and oil drifts lower.
FTSE 100 on track for its worst day in 11 months, while Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi also fall
U.S. government bonds began losing their safe-haven status long before the attack on Iran.
If advisors were hoping that 2026's macroeconomic uncertainty would go away soon, recent headlines have likely dashed those aspirations. Worries over the direction of inflation have resurfaced yet again, after the January PPI report came in far higher than many were expecting it to.
Micron, Sandisk, and Corning were among the S&P 500's worst performers ahead of Tuesday's opening bell.
7.25am: Nasdaq set to lead sharp fall as markets take Iran conflict more seriously Wall Street equity investors looked more rattled ahead of Tuesday's session, as global markets moved firmly into risk-off mode as the conflict widened in the Middle East. Tech stocks were set to take the brunt of selling, after shugging off the US and Israel's strikes on Iran at the start of the week.
The S&P 500 remains a powerful wealth-building tool, but future returns may be subdued due to valuation headwinds and internal rotation from growth to value. Passive investing via index ETFs is effective long term, yet hidden frictions like turnover, fees, and taxes—especially in equal-weight ETFs—can erode returns over time.
SpaceX plans to go public this year. If it does, its stock could be even more volatile than Tesla's.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced late on Monday that they were closing the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to fire at any vessel trying to pass through the shipping route. The Strait is a strategically critical waterway that is used by Middle Eastern countries to ship oil on board tankers.
Apple announces new iPhone and iPad Air, Anthropic's Pentagon tussle raises its App Store profile, more news to start your day.
Investors are failing to grasp the enormity of the fallout from U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran, says this energy expert.
What matters in U.S. and global markets today
US indices tumble in pre-market trade as Nasdaq 100 breaks its 200-day MA, putting tech stocks under pressure and shifting stock market sentiment bearish today.
Ancora made a last-minute push for Warner Bros. Discovery to entertain Paramount's bid.
Stocks and sovereign debt sold off across the globe as markets sharply adjusted to the conflict. Oil prices climbed further and gas prices continued to surge.
European equities remain under pressure as the war in Iran and the Middle East enters its fourth day. Oil and gas supply disruptions are driving a sharp jump in energy prices, while the shipping sector faces soaring freight rates as Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz and target any vessels passing through the key waterway.
The sentiment toward the US economy and consumer was less cautious than we observed at the ABS East Conference in Miami in late 2025. The “AI as a disruptor” theme filtered into chatter on collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), centered on potential risks to credit fundamentals among Software-as-a-Service providers.
Chocolate makers and fig-paste importers are facing a tangle of unknowns, including whether to seek refunds for tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court.
Markets have advanced for more than a century despite war, recession, oil shocks, political assassinations, and much more. Military conflicts tempt investors to give up on to their investment plan, but these events historically haven't stopped long-term market growth.
Korean equities suffered their worst losses since August 2024 with international investors leading the exodus after two days of net selling
Anna Edwards, Tom Mackenzie and Mark Cudmore break down today's key themes for analysts and investors on "Bloomberg: The Opening Trade." Chapters: 00:00:00 - MLIV 00:00:08 - Market Reaction: Oil Price, Stocks 00:01:23 - European Gas Prices 00:02:08 - S&P Futures, Fed Rate Cuts 00:02:49 - Iran Crisis Risk -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this video?
Markets are responding primarily to uncertainty, with oil prices rising and equities volatile. The economic impact will depend largely on energy supply disruption, particularly whether oil prices remain contained or move sharply higher.
The dollar has registered strong gains against the euro and yen, two currencies which have been frequently mentioned as alternatives to the greenback.
Vietnam is on the cusp of joining the emerging-markets club and stocks have notched their biggest rally in years, but foreigners have been sellers and say investing is handicapped by tariff risks, ownership limits and one firm's dominance of the index.
The S&P 500 sagged in February as markets responded to fears related to AI disruptors while weathering updates to US tariff policy. The large-cap index retreated 0.9% from the end of January, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Wall Street's main indexes fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 hitting its lowest in over two months, as investors braced for the impact of a widening Middle East conflict on oil prices, inflation and global trade.
“Be greedy only when others are fearful,” said Warren Buffett. Conflict history shows it can work.
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated military operations against Iran, citing the need to neutralize “imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”. Although uncertainty can spark sharp market reactions, history suggests that equity sell‑offs driven by geopolitical events are typically short‑lived.
Foreign securities and US real estate investment trusts led a broad-based rally for the major asset classes in February, based on a set of ETF proxies. US stocks (VTI) were the lone loser last month, edging down 0.5%.
The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some easing in overall fear, while it remained in the “Fear” zone on Monday.
While it's tempting to assume the dollar's long-lost "safety" bid has returned since the weekend Iran attacks, it's not as clear-cut as it seems and owes more to relative energy plays. Yet the implications of the market response may be just as powerful.
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Tuesday that consumers did not need to panic about fuel shortages amid concerns that the widening U.S.-Israeli war against Iran could deplete the country's stockpiles.
Carole Nakhle, CEO of Crystol Energy, says that the concentration of LNG suppliers pose a major risk to energy markets. She also discusses the timing of U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran, adding that the American President likely hopes that markets will correct by the time of the U.S. midterm elections.
China will unveil its next five-year plan at its annual parliamentary meeting, which kicks off on Thursday, setting out Beijing's ambitions for the economy and which sectors are lined up for funding and policy support.
The S&P 500 opened down more than 1% to start the week after the US attacked Iran over the weekend, but the index closed slightly positive by day's end. Key international equity ETFs like CWI (all world ex.