News Bulletin
Friday, March 27, 2026
Morning Edition

Economic Numbers:

Time	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
Friday, March 27, 2026
8:30	Retail Inventories Ex Auto (Feb)			0.40%
10:00	Michigan 1-Year Inflation Expectations (Mar)		3.40%	3.40%
10:00	Michigan Consumer Expectations (Mar)		54.10	56.60
10:00	Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations (Mar)		3.20%	3.30%
10:00	Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Mar)		55.50	56.60
13:00	U.S. Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count			414.00
13:00	U.S. Baker Hughes Total Rig Count			552.00

Indices

	CLOSE	50 DMA	200 DMA
DJIA	45,960.11	48,486.23	46,635.09
NASDAQ	21,408.08	22,810.98	22,294.78
S&P 500	6,477.16	6,825.32	6,633.18

Earnings Calendar:

(EPS: Earning Per Share / Rev: Revenue / Mkt Cap: market Capital/ BMO: Before Market Opening /AMC: After Market Close)

COMPANY	EPS Act	EPS Fore	Rev Act	Rev Fore	Mkt Cap	Time
Carnival CCL:US		0.19		6.13B	$29.42B	PM

Market News:

Futures linked to the main U.S. averages are subdued, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of an extension to a deadline for American air strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure should Tehran not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump says talks with Iran are ongoing, although fighting has carried on in the Middle East. Oil prices marched higher, while gold was on track for a decline over the past one-week period.

1. Futures muted

U.S. stock futures hovered just above the flatline on Friday, following Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would now give Iran until April 6 to unblock the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on local power plants.

By 04:23 ET (08:23 GMT), the Dow futures contract had risen by 27 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures had climbed by 8 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had risen by 16 points, or 0.1%.

The main averages on Wall Street slumped in the prior session, sinking to one of its worst days of the year so far amid scant indications that efforts to end the nearly month-old U.S. and Israeli war on Iran had yielded meaningful progress.

Indeed, fighting has appeared to continue unabated in the Middle East, leaving in place the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the specter of air attacks on world-critical energy sites across the region. Israel and Iran traded strikes on Friday, while the Pentagon has been amassing resources in the Middle East ahead of what some market participants believe could be a U.S. ground incursion into Iran.

An OECD report on Thursday warned of a darkening global economic outlook due to the war, highlighting the risk of an energy price shock sparking a surge in inflationary pressures that could weigh on overall growth.

Away from the war, analysts at Vital Knowledge emphasized the importance of OpenAI’s recent moves to abandon some of its consumer-focused products, arguing that it could be a sign that start-ups in the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector are beginning to concentrate more on earnings and cash flow over recurring revenues and users.

"[T]his could cause the tsunami of AI infrastructure spending to slow at the margin," the analysts wrote in a note.

2. Trump extends deadline for attacks on Iranian power facilities

But the majority of the focus is still fixed on the near-constant stream of developments out of Iran, particularly Trump’s announcement late on Thursday that a White House deadline for attacking Iranian energy facilities would be extended.

In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed the extension came at the request of the Iranian government, adding that Tehran was engaged in "ongoing" talks with the United States that are "going very well." Media reports to the contrary, he insisted, were "erroneous."

Trump previously issued an ultimatum to Iran last weekend in which he vowed to attack power plants in the country if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows. Trump later said he would not do so until Friday after what he described as "very strong" discussions with Iran.

Tehran, for its part, has publicly denied that any such negotiations with Washington are happening.

However, some observers have argued that neither the U.S. nor Iran may be reliable narrators of the situation, meaning that, for financial markets, uncertainty has continuously clouded the trajectory of the fighting.

3. Oil continues to climb

Crucially, what is clear is that the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shuttered for tanker traffic and there is still the potential for further strikes on energy sites in the Persian Gulf.

This has amounted to a major disruption in supplies out of a key energy-producing region, depriving countries around the world of imports needed in a range of industries.

Much of the attention has centered around the price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, which has become perhaps the poster child for the economic impact of the Iran war. Brent is now elevated well above pre-war levels, and was last ticking even higher on Friday.

The increase has underpinned fears of a global spike in price gains, which could force central banks to once again consider interest rate hikes even as growth stagnates.

4. Gold on pace for one-week decline

Gold prices were higher on Friday, but pared back some earlier gains, in the wake of Trump’s announcement.

Spot gold was last up 1.2% at $4,427.31 per ounce by 05:03 ET, while U.S. gold futures rose 1.1% to $4,456.01/oz.

Yet bullion, which declined in the prior session, was set to fall 1.4% over the past one-week period.

Elevated energy costs could lift inflation and reinforce expectations that central banks will maintain interest rates at higher levels for longer. Gold tends to underperform in high rate environments.

5. Carnival earnings ahead

On the earnings front, Carnival Corp. could offer a fresh glimpse into the fallout from the Iran war when the cruise operator reports its latest results on Friday.

The conflict-driven spike in oil prices is likely to push up fuel bills for companies like Carnival, analysts have warned.

Given their reliance on heavy fuel oil and marine gas oil, cruise lines typically turn to financial contracts that help lock in prices to hedge against sharp or sudden volatility in oil markets.

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