Markets News, March 9, 2026: Stocks Erase Steep Losses as Trump Says 'War Is Very Complete,' Oil Turns Lower

U.S. stock indexes erased declines to close Monday higher as President Donald Trump told CBS News that “the war is very complete, pretty much” and the price of oil fell.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up a respective 1.4%, 0.8%, and 0.5%. The Dow finished nearly 240 points higher after having erased a nearly 900-point decline.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, surged as high 35% last week—their biggest weekly gain since they began trading in 1983—as tanker traffic essentially halted through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran threatened ships attempting to navigate the important shipping route.

Oil futures soared above $119 a barrel overnight before paring those gains Monday as Group of Seven finance ministers saying after a meeting they could release oil from their strategic reserves to offset disruptions. Later, after Trump told CBS News that ships were moving through the Strait of Hormuz and he was “thinking about taking it over,” WTI futures turned lower. They were down 6% to $85 at around 4 p.m. ET.

That likely relieved some market watchers. “The initial base case with oil prices around $15 higher than the pre-war level was not particularly concerning for inflation,” Bank of America Global Economists Antonio Gabriel and Claudio Irigoyen wrote. “But the most recent escalation leading oil prices to rise above $100 could become concerning if it proves persistent.”

Shares of U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines Holdings (UAL), and American Airlines Group (AAL) and cruise operators Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), Carnival (CCL), and Royal Caribbean Group (RCL)—whose fuel expenses are their biggest aside from labor—ended higher after having declined most of the session.

The Magnificent Seven tech stocks also ended higher after falling in early trading. Memory stocks Sandisk (SNDK) and Western Digital (WDC) finished up nearly 12% and 7%, respectively.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of consumer loans, fell to 4.10% from Friday’s close of 4.13% after earlier touching 4.21% amid fears the surge in oil prices could lead to stagflation. On Friday, the U.S. unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.4% when it was expected to stay at 4.3%, and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said an oil-price shock coupled with a sustained rise in the unemployment rate would create “exactly the kind of stagflationary environment that’s as uncomfortable as any that faces a central bank,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, was 0.1% lower at 98.86.

Gold futures slipped 0.3% to $5,140 an ounce, while silver futures advanced 3% to $86.80 an ounce. Bitcoin was trading around $69,200, up from overnight lows around $65,600.

Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) shares skyrocketed 44% after it and Novo Nordisk (NVO) announced an agreement for the compounding pharmacy to sell the Danish firm’s weight-loss drugs on the Hims platform. U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk, which sued Hims & Hers last month for selling a copycat version of its new Wegovy weight-loss pill, finished up 3%.

Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) stock jumped nearly 6% after the company reach a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that will not force it to divest Ticketmaster.