The DJIA was down just over 1000 points about 45 minutes into the trading day, but then completely reversed to close up 239. All major indicis completed a major intra-day reversal even before the quote that the Iran conflict was close to being finished. The Nasdaq100 bounced off the last low of March 3rd back into the recent trading range.
The fact that we held the recent lows and completely reversed to the upside through out the day, is a positive sign technically. Also, the last time oil significantly exceeded $100 a barrel was June of 2022, and the market performed well after that. We expect oil to retreat once delivery can proceed and the war effort comes to a close, as predicted.
Money has poured back into the technology sector, and as before, the large-cap tech stocks are being viewed as a “safety trade” since that is where predictable earnings growth is found.
Though too early to say the corrective action is behind us, the volatility index is down significantly. The market fundamentals remain sound, and we expect investor sentiment to recover soon, which can drive us to new highs.