The S&P 500 closed Monday, March 16, up 1.01% at 6,699.38, ending what had been the index’s longest losing run in about a year, with three consecutive weekly declines that had left the benchmark at its lowest level of 2026 heading into the weekend.
The Nasdaq led the day’s gains, climbing 1.22% to settle at 22,374.18, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 387.94 points to close at 46,946.41, and all 11 S&P 500 sectors finishing in positive territory for the first time in several sessions.
The catalyst that unlocked equity markets was the same one that had been suppressing them for the prior three weeks: oil prices began to retreat after select tankers successfully navigated the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, signalling a tentative easing of the energy supply fears that had driven Brent Crude above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell nearly 5% on Monday back below $93 a barrel, a move that rippled immediately through inflation expectations and rate-cut probability models, giving investors the clearest indication yet that the worst-case energy shock scenario was not inevitable.
The Russell 2000 small-cap index actually outpaced all three major averages on the day, rising approximately 1.5%, a signal that the relief trade extended beyond the large-cap technology names that typically lead directional moves in either direction.
Despite the headline gains, trading volume on both the NYSE and Nasdaq ran well below average during the session, a detail that bulls typically want to see resolved before treating a bounce as the start of something durable rather than a single-day countertrend move.
Technology led the S&P sector rankings on the day with a gain of 1.59%, followed by consumer discretionary up 1.06% and financials up 0.86%, with the sector leadership broadly reflecting a rotation back into interest-rate-sensitive areas of the market as the energy pressure eased.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan directly during a Monday interview that the United States was allowing Iranian oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, saying: “The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world.”
That statement, coming from a cabinet official rather than a market speculator, provided a degree of policy clarity that had been entirely absent from the geopolitical narrative for the past two weeks, reducing the premium traders had built into everything from energy stocks to safe-haven currencies.
Whether Monday’s bounce marks a sustainable floor or simply a relief rally into a week still dominated by the FOMC decision, a batch of significant earnings reports, and unresolved questions around the Iran conflict’s trajectory will become considerably clearer over the next 72 hours.