Pre-Markets Down Again Ahead of Weekend

Friday, March 27th, 2026

We reach the final day of another trading week, with pre-market futures in the red again following a deep sell-off on Thursday. The Nasdaq bore the brunt of the selling, falling -521 points, -2.38%, for the session. This morning, after starting early morning trading in positive territory, we’re now -258 points on the Dow, -40 points on the S&P 500, -203 points on the Nasdaq, -0.67%, and -18 points on the small-cap Russell 2000.

Chief among concerns is the Iran War, and particularly what it has done to global oil supply and its market price, which is sending costs soaring not only at the gas station, but in airfare and transportation of food and other goods, as well. From this vista, it’s tough to see where we’re going to get some good news as markets enter correction levels.

President Trump has extended his pause on attacking Iranian oil plants until April 7th, even as Israel has promised increased levels of attacks. Again, it’s difficult to see where the seas part here; meanwhile, Brent crude spot prices have climbed +3% to over $110 per barrel (/bbl), with WTI (domestic crude) prices up +2.6% to $96/bbl.
 

What to Expect from the Stock Market

Later today, we’ll see the final read on the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment, which came down 90 basis points (bps) from the first release to the second to 55.5, and is expected to dip further to 54.0. This would be the lowest level of U.S. consumer confidence since December of last year. Again, we see the Iran War and its effect on oil and gasoline prices as a major factor in this report.

Next week, alongside other important economic prints such as the delayed Retail Sales report for February, we’ll see a fresh Employment Situation release one week from today, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Expectations are for a positive +48K per month following a loss of -92K in February (which is subject to revision).

It has not been a good environment for jobs growth. Going back to last summer, we’ve averaged negative job gains per month, and only +13K per month over the past 12 months. This is not enough to keep up with a month’s worth of Baby Boomer retirees; thus, through this prism we can see job growth at these rates essentially negative. A positive print for March would help matters, but by how much?

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