WEEKLY MARKET OUTLOOK:
📂 Monday: US-Iran War News; Powell Speech ✅
📂 Tuesday: JOLTs, Consumer Confidence; 3Fed Speakers; $NKE Earnings
📂 Wednesday: ADP Payrolls, Retail Sales, ISM Mfg. PMI; $TSLA Q1 Deliveries
📂 Thursday: Jobless Claims
📂Friday: Jobs Report; Good Friday - U.S. Stocks Closed
Oil prices continued their relentless climb after Yemen's Iran-backed
Houthis fired missiles at Israel over the weekend, marking their first direct engagement in the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict. Brent crude crossed $116 a barrel at its intraday peak, on track for a record monthly gain, as the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz - a chokepoint for roughly 20% of global oil and gas flows - shows no signs of easing.
The U.S. dollar held broadly firm on Monday, poised for its strongest monthly gain since July, as investors fled to safe-haven assets amid escalating Middle East tensions. The euro fell on course for a 2.5% monthly drop - its weakest decline since July - while the dollar index hit 100.14, reflecting broad-based demand for greenback safety amid war-driven uncertainty.
Bitcoin edged higher on Monday as Wall Street futures attempted a modest recovery following five consecutive weeks of losses in major equity indexes. Despite the tentative bounce, analysts note that risk assets like Bitcoin require stabilizing - ideally declining - oil prices to find more sustainable footing, as the broader macro backdrop remains under pressure from the Iran conflict.
As of March 29, all three major U.S. indexes - the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones - had officially entered correction territory, each down at least 10% from their recent peaks. The VIX surpassed the 30 mark, its highest in over a year, while Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi each dropped over 3% on Monday as BOJ rate hike signals and AI demand concerns compounded geopolitical pressures.