LIVE Stock Market Today: Stocks sink, oil surges as Iran war escalates

Daily Market Coverage Mar. 19, 2026 9AM-11AM (ET) | Yahoo Finance

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq slide amid inflation worries as Iran war sends oil surging

US stocks added to losses on Thursday as oil prices spiked amid strikes on key Middle East energy hubs, stoking already intense inflation concerns on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.6%, coming off a bruising session that dragged the blue-chip benchmark to its lowest close this year. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost a steeper 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively.

Brent (BZ=F) crude futures surged as much as 10% to as high as $119 a barrel before paring those gains, as Iran and Israel exchanged attacks on highly important oil and gas facilities. The escalation in hostilities stoked fears of a more severe fallout from the conflict than foreseen. Gains for US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) lagged, hovering around $97 as the spread between the two products widened to its largest gap in years.

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