Editor’s Note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs and the headline were updated in the story.
U.S. stock futures fell sharply on Monday following Friday’s negative close. Futures of the major benchmark indices were lower amid the ongoing Iran-US conflict.
The bloodbath follows a historic surge in energy costs. Brent Crude spiked 14.90% to hit $106.50, while WTI surged 13.27% to $102.96, with both benchmarks now aggressively testing their 52-week highs of $119.46 and $119.43, respectively.
Despite the market carnage, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to dismiss the economic anxiety, framing the record-high fuel costs as a necessary byproduct of his administration’s offensive against Tehran.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.19%, and the two-year bond was at 3.63%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 97.3% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in March.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -1.61% |
| S&P 500 | -1.41% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -1.56% |
| Russell 2000 | -2.60% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Monday. The SPY was down 0.93% at $666.14, while the QQQ declined 1.04% to $593.50.
Stocks In Focus
Ovintiv
- Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV) jumped 5.24% in premarket on Monday after Director Mayson Howard John sold 5,000 shares of common stock last week, according to a Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- OVV maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a solid value ranking, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
