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Happy Monday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Mar. 2, 2026. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.
Update: 9:30 – 9:45 a.m. ET
Opening Bell
The U.S. markets are now open for the day.
Out of the gate, the Russell 2000 (-2.7%) is off nearly three percent, while large cap indexes such as the Dow (-0.59%), S&P 500(-0.49%), and Nasdaq (-0.39%) are recovering some from some of last night’s futures market reactions; they’re off closer to half a percentage point.
Let’s dive into some of the specifics this morning:
In Focus: S&P 500
Unsurprisingly, there is only one sector of the S&P 500 in the green today: Energy (+1.4%), which is jumping after oil prices saw their largest single-day leap since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
There are some other pockets of green, such as defense contractors under the Industrials (-0.31%) sector, but overall, the index is overwhelmingly skewed to the downside. 389 of the 503 constituents of the index are in the red right now.
Also, speaking of the S&P 500, the Cboe Volatility Index is up 12.79% to 22.40.
Commodity Conundrum
As aforementioned in our market A.M. Update, global oil prices are rising today after the U.S. carried out its long-foreshadowed attack on Iran. Continuous contracts of Brent Crude is up 8% to $78.70 today, while WTICrude is up 6.76% to $71.55. However, it’s not just oil that is seeing big moves.
Safe havens like gold (+2.16% to $5,361) and silver (-3.41% to $90.11) saw moves higher overnight before a sell-off towards the market open. Platinum (-3.63% to $2,287.40) and copper (-1.67% to $5.9585) are also sharing in silver’s decline after a wild overnight trade.
Economic Data: S&P Global Manufacturing, ISM Manufacturing
As we briefly touched on in our A.M. Update, today’s big economic a data reports largely touch on manufacturing benchmarks. Those reports are out now, showing some modest declines month-over-month:
However, the ISM Manufacturing Prices are something to watch; they leaped from 59 to 70.5 in February, wildly exceeding expectations of 59.5. These results are more consistent with the higher prices seen last summer, before the index’s price component began to decline in the back half of 2025.
Dollar Demand
Stocks and commodities might be booking divergent results this morning, but the U.S. Dollar is moving higher. The Dollar Index is up 0.82% to $98.41 this morning, rallying since the day rolled into midnight.
Helping matters, the Treasury train is also diverging further today, with the 10Y, 20Y, and 30Y up 6.3 bips, 5 bips, and 4.8 bips to 4.025%, 4.62%, and 4.681%, respectively. The ISM might be playing a role in these moves, too, seeing how the tepid manufacturing data might further the case for rate cuts.
Trump to Speak on Iran Conflict at 11 a.m.
President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at 11:00 a.m. ET, which could stoke even more market reactions.
Update: 8:42 a.m. ET
A.M. Update
Good morning. After a rowdy weekend in the Middle East, the U.S. markets are setting up for a rowdy start to the business week, a result of America and Israel’s coordinated attack on Iran and its leadership. The attack, while widely expected by the defense community, came amid nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran.
It was the first attack by the U.S. since the country bombed a supposed nuclear facility last June. This attack, which took aim at country leadership, has likely left a possible power vacuum in the carefully-watched middle eastern country. The country’s military retaliated all weekend with strikes on U.S. resources in neighboring countries. Videos circulated from countries have also shown the country hitting softer targets like hotels or apartments, drumming up even more uncertainty in the region.
In response, the United Arab Emirates shut its stock exchange for two days. Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt fell after the conflict came to a boil. It’s staying there as U.S. and Iran continue an exchange of blows.
President Donald Trump says that the operation could last up to five weeks, inducing some anxiety among investors about the possible impacts on the oil market and logistics in the region. For example, the attacks have already forced Saudi Arabia to shut down key refineries amid attacks and Qatar has halted LNG output. At the same time, transit in and out of the region remains tenuous as the Strait of Hormuz and regional airports remain shut.
When futures opened last night, traders immediately priced that uncertainty in, as oil futures gapped higher by the highest percentage basis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. U.S. stocks also saw declines, following in declines seen globally.
As the conflict enters its third day, traders will finally be able to lean in on the uncertainty. They’ll also get to marinate on manufacturing economic data and a handful of earnings today.
We’ll be back after the market open to evaluate some of the newest information.
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