US STOCKS-Wall St slides as Iran strike postponement offers limited reprieve

Unity Software

27/03/2026 14:28

Indexes down: Dow 1.06%, S&P 500 0.94%, Nasdaq 1.27%

Unity Software's shares climb after preliminary Q1 results

Carnival Corp drops on cutting annual adjusted profit forecast

Multiple Fed speakers on deck

Updates on market open

By Purvi Agarwal and Twesha Dikshit

March 27 (Reuters) -
Wall Street's main indexes fell on Friday as the month-long Middle East war dragged on, weighing on sentiment, while investors watched for any signs of de-escalation.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would again extend a deadline asking Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy plants, after Tehran earlier rejected a 15-point U.S. proposal to end the fighting.

The postponement did not calm markets, however, and oil prices rose as investors were skeptical about the two sides reaching an agreement.

"Financial markets remain headline-driven. Investors are being buffeted by U.S. claims that progress is being made to end hostilities, while Iran denies that any serious negotiations are taking place," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

"It seems obvious that neither side is close to accepting the other's conditions for peace, so for now, the war continues."

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq stayed on track for their fifth week of losses. The Dow was set to end the week little changed.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, considered Wall Street's fear gauge, was up 2.56 points at 30.

At 10:09 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1.06%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.94%, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC shed 1.27%.

The S&P 500 communication services index .SPLRCL remained under pressure and was down 0.9% as Alphabet GOOGL.O and Meta META.O posted declines of 1.2% and 1.7%, respectively.

Software stocks were also hit, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software sector ETF IGV.N falling 3.4% to a more than one-month low.

Consumer discretionary stocks .SPLRCD lost 1.4%. Cruise-operator Carnival Corp CCL.N was down 1.3% after cutting its annual adjusted profit forecast.

Oil prices were up nearly 3%, weighing on airline stocks, with American Airlines AAL.O and United Airlines UAL.O down 1.2% each.

        On Thursday, the Nasdaq ended more than 10% lower from its record close, confirming it had been in correction territory. The Russell 2000 .RUT, the first on the correction path, confirmed it last Friday.

"The speed of the market's declines in recent weeks and the fact that most of this fear has been driven by a single narrative, geopolitical tensions, suggests that the market is in the midst of a correction, and not a bear market," said Glen Smith, chief investment officer, GDS Wealth Management.

The spike in oil prices as a result of the Iran war has brought inflation fears to the forefront, complicating the future rate-cut path for central banks.

Money market participants are not pricing in any easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve this year, compared with two cuts anticipated before the conflict broke out, according to CME's FedWatch Group. Expectations of a rate hike in December were last at 49%.

University of Michigan
 consumer sentiment data released on Friday showed consumer sentiment was at 53.3 versus a preliminary reading of 55.5.

Investors will look for commentary from regional Fed Presidents Thomas Barkin, Mary Daly and Anna Paulson later in the day.

In individual movers, Unity Software's U.N shares jumped 11.7% after the maker of videogame software reported first-quarter preliminary revenue above analysts' estimates.

 (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

 ((Pooja.Desai@thomsonreuters.com;))