Morning Preview: March 30, 2026

Early Look

Monday, March 30, 2026

After trading lower most of last night, U.S. futures are looking at a higher open as the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all try to snap their respective 5-week losing streaks (longest losing streaks since May ’22), on pace to end March much lower behind surging inflation fears as oil prices hit highest levels in over three years as the war with Iran drags on. @Barchart noted on X, Global CTAs dumped $190 Billion worth of stocks over the last month, the fastest pace of selling since Covid. Oil prices extended gains overnight with Brent headed for a record monthly rise, after Yemeni Houthis launched their first attacks on Israel over the weekend, widening the US-Israel war with Iran in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate followed, gaining nearly 2% to trade just above the $100 mark. Trump told reporters on Air Force one on Sunday that Iran “gave” the US most of the 15 demands it issued to Tehran to end the war. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index tumbled -1,487 points to 51,885, the Shanghai Index rose 9 points to 3,923, and the Hang Seng Index declined -201 points to 24,750. In Europe, the German DAX is down -39 points to 22,261, while the FTSE 100 rises 53 points to 10,020. This week is a shorter trading week with Good Friday on Friday and markets closed, while all eyes remain fixated on the US and Iran war. On the data front, jobs are center stage with JOLTs job openings and consumer confidence Tuesday, ADP private payrolls, retail sales and ISM Manufacturing PMI on Wednesday, weekly jobless claims Thursday and then the Monthly nonfarm payrolls data on Friday.

U.S. markets ended Fridy near the lows with the Nasdaq falling over -2%, the S&P 500 down -1.65%, and the Dow tumbling with all three major averages posting a 5th straight week of losses heading into the last two trading days of the month next week. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes ticked up and was last up 2.8 basis points at 4.444%. Yields had earlier reached as high as 4.482%, their highest since July. The S&P 500 down 9.2% from its January record high, approaching correction territory where the Nasdaq is already more than 10% off its recent record highs and both well below their respective 200dma supports. The Dow Jones industrial average ends down 10% from Feb 10 record high, confirms correction. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.12%, the Nasdaq declined 3.23%, and the Dow fell 0.9%. Oil remained the market’s anchor Friday, dragging down risk sentiment throughout the NY session as Iran and US/Israel strikes continued, reinforcing expectations of a prolonged conflict and keeping Brent above $110.

Few interesting stats: @KobeissiLetter noted on X, “The S&P 500 officially posts its lowest close in 232 days, erasing another -$1 trillion of market cap today. This brings total S&P 500 losses since the Iran War began to -$4.8 trillion.” The two-year U.S. Treasury yield is set for a monthly rise of roughly 50 basis points (bps), its largest since October 2024, although it retreated roughly 4 basis points in Asia to 3.8770%. The five-year U.S. Treasury yield was set for a monthly gain of roughly 51 bps, its largest since October 2024, while the 10-year yield was headed for a roughly 43 bps rise.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -793.47 points, or 1.73%, to 45,166.64
• The Nasdaq Composite tumbled -459.72 points, or 2.15%, to 21,948.36
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -43.63 points, or 1.75% to 2,449.70

• Earnings After the Close: ARKO BLNE DMAC FTHM HQI INLX IVA LVLU PHR PRGS SGMO SPCE

• Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a second attack on Israel within 24 hours, signaling a deepening role for the Iran-backed group in the widening conflict. A Houthi military spokesman said the group launched a salvo of cruise missiles and drones targeting “vital and military sites” in Israel – WSJ.
• A military airbase located in the Baghdad International Airport complex was hit with rockets, destroying an Iraqi air force aircraft, with no casualties, according to a statement on social media by the Iraqi Defense Ministry.
• Iran has drafted legislation to create the “Hormuz Law” which is expected create a formal toll system for the Strait of Hormuz. Preliminary details include: 1. Hormuz Law to introduce fees on navigation and pollution in the Strait of Hormuz. 2. Draft legislation also includes creation of a “regional fund”. 3. The move is seen as an attempt to formalize long-term tolls on global shipping routes. 4. The US has called these tolls on the Strait of Hormuz both “illegal” and “unacceptable”

• Dollar General (DG) mentioned positively in Barron’s saying investors were wary of the discount stores incoming CEO Jerry Fleeman, but the market’s negative reaction overlooks a strengthening business that could deliver continued growth and upside from currently undervalued shares.
• Pony.ai (PONY) said it expects to more than double the fleet of robotaxis powered by its technology to over 3,000 units across more than 20 cities globally this year, the firm said as it announced its first-ever quarterly profit.
• Sysco (SYY) is nearing a deal to buy family-owned Restaurant Depot for roughly $29 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter, the WSJ reports. Under the terms of the acquisition, set to be unveiled later Monday, Restaurant Depot shareholders would receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares. A total deal value of $29.1 billion, including debt. https://tinyurl.com/mr4948n3 (SYY later this morning confirmed the news and purchase of Restaurant Depot).

• Avis Budget (CAR) announced a filing a prospectus for a common stock offering late Friday.
• Palantir (PLTR) just renewed and expanded its long-running partnership with Stellantis (STLA), locking in a new 5-year deal that runs through 2031. Stellantis will scale up use of Foundry and fully deploy Palantir’s AI Platform; focus on data integration, AI-driven decisions, and operational efficiency.
• United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) mentioned favorably in Barron’s saying the company is betting 2026 will mark the start of a turnaround that could make the beaten-down stock attractive to investors again after years of underperformance driven by weak freight demand, labor costs and strategic missteps.

• Eli Lilly (LLY) reaches $2.75 billion deal with Insilico to bring AI-developed drugs to the global market. The agreement will give Insilico $115 million up front, with the remainder subject to regulatory and commercial milestones, along with royalties on future sales, according to the companies’ announcement Monday.
• Reviva Pharmaceuticals’ (RVPH) 2025 net loss narrows on lower R&D spending; said plans to initiate RECOVER-2 Phase 3 trial for brilaroxazine in schizophrenia in mid-2026; expects trial-related activities for RECOVER-2 to start in Q2-2026, with U.S. enrollment in Q3-2026; believes current cash position will fund operations into Q1-2027
• Zymeworks (ZYME) announced that the U.S.FDA has granted Fast Track designation to ZW191, an antibody-drug conjugate targeting folate receptor-alpha, for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

• CrowdStrike (CRWD) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research with PT $450.
• iQiyi (IQ) announces $100M share repurchase program; company recently launched open commercial testing for Nadou Pro, its proprietary AI agents and the first in China designed specifically for professional long-form video generation.
• Netflix (NFLX) has increased prices on all its plans in the U.S.; its ad-supported tier will now cost $8.99 a month, compared with $7.99 earlier, while prices for its standard plan rose $2 per month to $19.99. The premium plan now costs $26.99 a month, up from $24.99 earlier. Netflix has also increased the price of adding an extra member to $7.99 for ad-supported plans and to $9.99 for ad-free plans.
• Nvidia (NVDA), the world’s most valuable company, finds itself trading at its cheapest price-to-earnings multiple since before ChatGPT kicked off the AI boom; Shares of Nvidia have tumbled nearly 20% from their record high close in October.