S&P 500 Snaps 4-Day Streak as Iran Deadline Looms
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- S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped four-day winning streaks with marginal moves — S&P 500 gained 0.09% to 6,617.92, Nasdaq rose 0.13% to 22,024.80 — while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78.54 points, or 0.17%, to 46,591.34
- Trump set an end-of-Tuesday deadline for an Iran deal, and Keator Group's Matthew Keator told investors they were 'calibrating' to gauge 'how much of it is posturing, and how much of it is telegraphing what he will actually do'
- Iran had not yet allowed traffic to resume through the Strait of Hormuz despite Trump's threats, and oil prices have surged since the US and Israel declared war on the country on February 28, with WTI settling up 0.5% and Brent down 0.5%
- Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned the war could drive inflation higher while dampening the economy, creating a 'stagflationary shock' that puts the central bank in a bind on interest rate cuts
- UnitedHealth jumped and peers Humana and CVS Health advanced after the US government said it would raise payments to private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans, an increase from the near-flat change proposed earlier
- Apple shares dropped after Nikkei Asia reported engineering setbacks for its long-awaited foldable phone, while Broadcom rose on a long-term AI chip deal with Alphabet and Intel rallied after saying it would join Elon Musk's Terafab project alongside SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI
Why it matters: With Goolsbee warning the Iran war could create a stagflationary shock, the Fed's rate-cut path grows more constrained — and Trump's Tuesday deadline could force a sharp repricing if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed and oil keeps climbing. On the policy side, UnitedHealth, Humana, and CVS caught a real tailwind as Medicare Advantage payments rose from a near-flat proposed level.
