Stocks close lower, trimming steeper losses as oil retreats

Oil prices fell after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was helping with US efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Your Evening Briefing March 19, 2026 Our audience survey is live: four short rounds of questions that help us get to know you. It's anonymous and takes three minutes — fill it out here. Stocks close lower, trimming steeper losses as oil retreats The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 closed lower, but trimmed steeper losses from earlier in the session after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was helping with US efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices retreated from an earlier spike after attacks on Iranian and Qatari energy facilities. The Russell 2000 closed higher. Energy was once again the best performing sector, while materials dropped the most. Every stock in the Magnificent 7 traded lower. Gold and silver tumbled as the rolling Iran war energy crisis revived worries about inflation and sank hopes of additional rate cuts. Bitcoin fell below $70,000 amid inflation fears and a risk-off sentiment in the market, before recovering after Netanyahu's statements. Stocks that moved higher: Five Below soared after its fiscal 2027 sales and earnings guidance came in above forecasts. Cheniere Energy, America's largest producer of liquified natural gas, rose amid news that attacks knocked out 17% of Qatar's LNG export capacity. Rivian ticked higher as Uber announced a up to $1.25 billion investment in the EV-maker to deploy robotaxis. Rocket Lab rose as the commercial space launch company announced a new $190 million deal for 20 tests of hypersonic rockets for the Department of Defense and picked up a new bullish analyst call. Align Technology rose on news that activist investor Elliott Investment Management has reportedly taken a stake in the Invisalign-maker. Software stocks Intuit, Oracle, Salesforce, and Workday perked up as the Iran war fueled the flight-to-software trade. Stocks that moved lower: Alibaba tumbled after reporting an earnings and revenue miss. Micron dropped despite reporting a stellar quarter and blowout guidance after the bell yesterday. Tesla underperformed relative to the rest of the Mag 7 as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is expanding its probe into Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, focusing on whether the system can detect when cameras can't see the road. Mining stocks Newmont, Freeport-McMoRan, Anglogold Ashanti, Wheaton Precious Metals, and Agnico Eagle fell amid the retreat in gold and silver. Micron blew the lights out on earnings, so why is the stock dropping? After a relentless rise into the print, a stunning beat — 21% on revenue and 36% on adjusted EPS — wasn't quite enough to keep the momentum going. Read more. Hyperliquid is the "1,000 pound gorilla in the room" leading year-to-date market gains amidst conflict in the Middle East While the crypto industry has shed $564.3 billion in 2026, Hyperliquid's native token has bucked the downtrend and jumped 54.8% year-to-date. Read more. Apple is behind the rest of Big Tech when it comes to developing its own AI, but that hasn't stopped it from cashing in on the AI boom. The iPhone maker stands to bring in more than $1 billion in App Store fees this year from other companies' generative-AI apps, mostly from ChatGPT. Read more.  Elon Musk gives an estimate for Tesla's AI6 chip timeline... while the AI5 is still unfinished Sending the Optimus and Robotaxi chip to manufacturing by December may take some "luck." Lilly reports encouraging trial results for its next-gen GLP-1 shot Patients taking the highest dose of retatrutide lost 16.8% of their body weight after 40 weeks, more than its current bestseller, tirzepatide. CarMax says EV and hybrid searches are up 9.3% this month as gas prices surge Car shoppers are increasingly looking toward more fuel-efficient options as the war in Iran continues to spike gas prices. Novo says FDA has approved high-dose Wegovy shot Wegovy HD was the first drug to be approved through the FDA's new priority voucher system.  OpenAI acquires Astral, adding talent to Codex team OpenAI said Codex has seen "3x user growth and 5x usage increase" since the start of 2026, and has over 2 million weekly active users. Bezos seeks $100 billion for AI-enhanced manufacturing fund, WSJ reports Bezos' new venture "Project Prometheus" seeks to re-imagine industrial manufacturing with AI.  What we talk about when we talk about crude oil While both WTI and Brent are light and sweet crude, differences in geography and chemical composition influence the Brent-WTI spread. Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to The Wrap and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and Snacks for quality reads. We care what you think! 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