LPL Research provides its Weekly Market Performance for the week of March 23, 2026. U.S. and global equity markets finished the week mostly lower as geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East continued to drive volatility across regions and asset classes. Equities were whipsawed by shifting hopes for de‑escalation, choppy energy prices, and renewed pressure on large‑cap technology stocks, while Treasury yields moved higher amid weak auction demand and elevated inflation expectations. International markets were mixed, with Europe showing relative resilience and most Asian markets declining, as investors remained highly sensitive to developments affecting global energy supplies. In commodities, crude oil was little changed, and in currencies, the dollar strengthened and the yen weakened near key levels.
Stock Index Performance
| Index | Week-Ending | One Month | Year to Date |
| S&P 500 | -2.06% | -7.36% | -6.91% |
| Dow Jones Industrial | -0.79% | -7.68% | -5.92% |
| Nasdaq Composite | -3.09% | -7.45% | -9.73% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.58% | -6.83% | -1.18% |
| MSCI EAFE | 0.09% | -11.11% | -2.46% |
| MSCI EM | -1.02% | -11.99% | 0.67% |
S&P 500 Index Sectors
| Sector | Week-Ending | One Month | Year to Date |
| Materials | 4.26% | -9.02% | 7.02% |
| Utilities | 3.03% | -3.88% | 7.00% |
| Industrials | -1.01% | -9.78% | 2.89% |
| Consumer Staples | 1.33% | -8.19% | 6.48% |
| Real Estate | -0.70% | -8.28% | 0.10% |
| Health Care | -0.73% | -10.07% | -7.16% |
| Financials | -1.89% | -6.56% | -12.48% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -1.76% | -8.65% | -12.14% |
| Information Technology | -3.37% | -6.29% | -11.54% |
| Communication Services | -6.98% | -11.41% | -11.18% |
| Energy | 6.26% | 12.57% | 40.04% |
Fixed Income and Commodities
| Indexes and Commodities | Week-Ending | One Month | Year to Date |
| Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate | -0.08% | -2.46% | -0.76% |
| Bloomberg Credit | 0.00% | -2.63% | -1.20% |
| Bloomberg Munis | -0.64% | -2.55% | -0.41% |
| Bloomberg High Yield | 0.01% | -1.49% | -0.81% |
| Oil | 1.18% | 48.43% | 73.25% |
| Natural Gas | 0.00% | 8.25% | -16.03% |
| Gold | 0.62% | -14.37% | 4.65% |
| Silver | 3.52% | -25.00% | -1.85% |
Source: LPL Research, Bloomberg 3/27/26 @3:19 p.m. ET
Disclosures: Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly.
U.S. and International Equities
U.S. Equities: Headlines remained volatile and noisy over the last full week of March, leaving the S&P 500 below the weekly flatline as equity markets continued to broadly be driven by geopolitical headlines and their directional impact on oil prices. Losses were relatively measured, however, as major U.S. averages traded in positive territory for the majority of the week on de-escalation hopes. Risk appetite was lifted after President Trump stated that Washington and Tehran had “very productive” talks on ending hostilities in the Middle East, and halted attacks on energy infrastructure before delivering a 15-point peace proposal to Iran. Equities held gains on the signals that Washington may be serious about winding down the conflict via the credible off-ramp, but Iran’s denial of peace talks, rejection of the ceasefire proposal, and bounce in crude prices kept a lid on stocks.
Despite the White House extending its pause of attacks, de-escalation doubts continued to weigh on already fragile sentiment, with a slide in big tech names exacerbating losses at the index level. Shares of social technology giant Meta (META) sold off after being ruled liable for addictive social media products, alongside Alphabet (GOOG/L), which separately sparked declines in memory and chipmakers after unveiling a new algorithm that may reduce memory needs for artificial intelligence. A continued backup in Treasury yields and Brent crude prices rising near $110 per barrel were also flagged as headwinds for stocks due to the subsequent inflation and economic jitters, which led to continued selling Friday as U.S. and Israeli defense forces struck Iranian nuclear sites and steel facilities.
International Equities: Across the pond, the European STOXX 600 held gains despite selling pressure over the latter half of the week. The regional benchmark jumped late in Monday trading in response to reported U.S.-Iran peace talks, and persevered through climbing energy prices the rest of the week to stay above the weekly unchanged point. Mid-week gains were a bright spot as bulls waded into the market on assurance from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that a rate hike is not penciled in at this time, but central bankers will respond swiftly if inflationary pressures rise. Nonetheless, stocks eased into the weekend on chatter around increasing headwinds the longer energy prices remain elevated, as well as the Bank of France lifting inflation expectations and cutting its growth forecast due to the conflict.
Asian stocks ended mostly lower, with just Japan and Australia bucking the trend among major markets. Like the U.S. and Europe, the Asia-Pacific region remained highly sensitive to developments out of the Persian Gulf, with fluctuating hopes of a restored flow of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz driving choppy trading. South Korea faced the most downside pressure on chip and memory share weakness following the GOOG/L news, while losses for greater China were capped by state media reports of a jump in homegrown artificial intelligence model adoption earlier in the week.
Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodity Markets
Fixed Income: Core bonds, measured by the Bloomberg Aggregate Index, traded slightly lower this week. Despite the rise in Treasury yields over the past month, this week’s auctions were, by many measures, disappointing. The Treasury Department auctioned off $183 billion (total) in two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes this week, and demand for each auction came in among the lowest levels of the year with demand for the two-year auction the lowest in two years. Moreover, in each auction the Treasury was forced to pay more than market expectations to generate even this muted level of demand. The weak auction results largely reflect heightened uncertainty surrounding the ongoing Iran conflict and a near‑term increase in inflation expectations. Short‑term inflation expectations continue to rise, and market-implied expectations for Fed rate cuts have shifted to probabilities of rate hikes extending into June 2027. Importantly, longer-term inflation expectations remain well anchored, which suggests the Fed is in no need to actually increase rates right now.
Despite this week’s weak Treasury auction results, we do not believe we are on the precipice of an outright buyers’ strike. With yields approaching key psychological levels — around 5% on the 30‑year and 4% on the two‑year — we expect incremental demand to emerge, given current market pricing for Fed policy, even if those thresholds are temporarily breached. In other words, absent a meaningful un-anchoring of long‑term inflation expectations, we see limits to how much further yields can rise.
Commodities and Currencies: The broader commodities complex traded slightly lower this week after bouncing off mid-week lows. Crude oil prices didn’t budge from the commodities spotlight again, but price momentum did cool as both West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude prices posted moderate week-to-date moves. While rising in recent sessions on de-escalation doubts from investors, crude struggled to fully recover from Monday’s steep drop triggered by reported U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks. Nonetheless, the Strait of Hormuz remained bottlenecked (Iran did allow 10 tankers to traverse the waterway as a show of goodwill) as the conflict dragged on, leaving prices elevated its length remains unclear and U.S. insurance programs have yet to begin. Gold prices also remained choppy as ceasefire hopes whipsawed, but the yellow metal ultimately traded modestly higher Friday afternoon. Silver traded higher thanks to a positive Friday session, while the U.S. Dollar Index strengthened against its peers after shrugging off early weakness. The Japanese yen also made headlines as potential currency intervention by Tokyo remains on the table while lingering near key levels versus the U.S. dollar.
Economic Weekly Roundup
The economic calendar was relatively quiet over the last five days with high-profile prints slated for next week at the start of the new month. The headline of this week’s reports was arguably Friday’s release of the latest consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan. While the gauge was revised lower than consensus expected for the month of March, the drop was not extreme and did not come as a major shock to investors as dented consumer sentiment was generally to be expected given ongoing inflation angst driven by higher oil prices. Also released this week was initial jobless claims arriving in line with expectations while continuing claims declined, and a slight miss in preliminary composite economic activity data on the back of weaker services results. However, both the manufacturing and services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes remained in expansion.
The Week Ahead
The following economic data is slated for the week ahead:
- Monday: Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity (Mar)
- Tuesday: FHFA House Price Index (Jan), S&P Case-Shiller 20-City and National Home Price Indexes (Jan), MNI Chicago PMI (Mar), Conference Board Consumer Confidence report (Mar), JOLTS Jobs report (Feb), Dallas Fed Services Activity (Mar)
- Wednesday: MBA Mortgage Applications (Mar 27), ADP Employment Change (Mar), Retail Sales (Feb), S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI (Mar final), ISM Manufacturing (Mar), Business Inventories (Jan), Wards Total Vehicle Sales (Mar)
- Thursday: Challenger Job Cuts (Mar), Trade Balance (Feb), Initial Jobless Claims (Mar 28), Continuing Claims (Mar 21)
- Friday: Change in Nonfarm, Private, and Manufacturing Payrolls (Mar), Average Hourly Earnings (Mar), Average Weekly Hours All Employees (Mar), Unemployment Rate (Mar), S&P Global U.S. Services and Composite PMIs (Mar final)
Important Disclosures
This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. There is no assurance that the views or strategies discussed are suitable for all investors. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, please consult your financial professional prior to investing.
Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal. No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee return or eliminate risk.
Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Index performance is not indicative of the performance of any investment and does not reflect fees, expenses, or sales charges. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.
This material was prepared by LPL Financial, LLC. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however LPL Financial makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy.
Unless otherwise stated LPL Financial and the third party persons and firms mentioned are not affiliates of each other and make no representation with respect to each other. Any company names noted herein are for educational purposes only and not an indication of trading intent or a solicitation of their products or services.
Asset Class Disclosures –
International investing involves special risks such as currency fluctuation and political instability and may not be suitable for all investors. These risks are often heightened for investments in emerging markets.
Bonds are subject to market and interest rate risk if sold prior to maturity.
Municipal bonds are subject and market and interest rate risk and potentially capital gains tax if sold prior to maturity. Interest income may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. Municipal bonds are federally tax-free but other state and local taxes may apply.
Preferred stock dividends are paid at the discretion of the issuing company. Preferred stocks are subject to interest rate and credit risk. They may be subject to a call features.
Alternative investments may not be suitable for all investors and involve special risks such as leveraging the investment, potential adverse market forces, regulatory changes and potentially illiquidity. The strategies employed in the management of alternative investments may accelerate the velocity of potential losses.
Mortgage backed securities are subject to credit, default, prepayment, extension, market and interest rate risk.
High yield/junk bonds (grade BB or below) are below investment grade securities, and are subject to higher interest rate, credit, and liquidity risks than those graded BBB and above. They generally should be part of a diversified portfolio for sophisticated investors.
Precious metal investing involves greater fluctuation and potential for losses.
The fast price swings of commodities will result in significant volatility in an investor’s holdings.
This research material has been prepared by LPL Financial LLC.
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