US Stock Market Volatile Intraday Trading, Mixed Closes; Escort "Fat Finger" News Triggers Oil Price Roller Coaster

On Tuesday, Eastern Time (March 10), the market’s focus remained on energy news. U.S. stocks experienced increased volatility during the session, with the three major indices ending mixed. Crude oil prices saw a rollercoaster ride. The White House stated that the U.S. Navy did not escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, clarifying a previously deleted social media post by the Energy Secretary. WTI crude briefly fell nearly 16% from its daily high, then rebounded.

【US Stock Indices】

At the close, the S&P 500 fell 0.21% to 6,781.48; the Dow Jones declined 0.07% to 47,706.51; the Nasdaq rose 0.01% to 22,697.10.

According to CCTV News, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wight posted on social media that the U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the continuous flow of oil to global markets. Oil prices subsequently broke below the intraday trading range, with WTI crude dropping nearly 16% from its daily high.

However, the post was deleted shortly after. CCTV reports that the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy responded to the Secretary’s statement, calling the claim that the U.S. military escorted the oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz a complete lie. Any actions by the U.S. and its allies would be thwarted within Iran’s missile and drone range.

Later, the White House press secretary also denied the escort story, causing oil prices to rally, with WTI crude rising from around $76 back to $86.

Currently, the U.S. stock market is highly sensitive to oil prices, with a strong negative correlation in production. The late-session rally in oil prices dragged the market down.

Analysts note that if oil prices fall back to $70 or $60, the impact on the economy would be limited. However, if prices remain high amid current uncertainties, the market may indeed require a risk premium, which would influence the economy over time.

Oil price fluctuations also directly affect market expectations of potential inflation rebounds. Traders are closely watching upcoming inflation data, as recent employment reports challenged the view of a stable labor market.

Yesterday, Trump indicated the possibility of ending actions against Iran soon. Meanwhile, some insiders say the U.S. government has asked Israel to cease attacks on Iranian energy facilities, citing concerns that such actions could push up global oil prices and provoke large-scale Iranian retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure.

However, many signs suggest that the war is unlikely to end in the short term. U.S. Defense Secretary stated that airstrikes on Iran would escalate further. Iran’s Foreign Minister previously said ceasefire negotiations are “not within the scope of consideration.” This indicates ongoing market volatility.

【U.S. Treasury Bonds】

U.S. Treasury yields rebounded, with the benchmark 10-year yield closing at 4.163%, and the 2-year yield, sensitive to Federal Reserve policy, at 3.611%.

【Popular U.S. Stocks】

Among popular stocks, Nvidia rose 1.16%, Apple increased 0.37%, Google A gained 0.22%, Google C up 0.30%, Microsoft fell 0.89%, Amazon rose 0.39%, TSMC declined 0.47%, Meta increased 1.03%, Tesla up 0.14%, Super Micro Semiconductor up 0.27%, Intel surged 2.63%.

On the news front, media reports indicate that e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon plans to issue bonds simultaneously in the U.S. dollar and euro markets, aiming to raise approximately $37 billion to $42 billion.

Meta announced on Tuesday that it acquired Moltbook, a social platform designed for AI agents, with its founder joining Meta’s AI research division.

Strong AI orders led Oracle to beat earnings and revenue expectations by over 20% last quarter, and raised its guidance for the next fiscal year, resulting in an over 8% after-hours jump.

【Global Indices】

In Europe, the FTSE 100 rose 1.59% to 10,412 points. France’s CAC 40 increased 1.79% to 8,057 points. Germany’s DAX soared 2.39% to 23,969 points.

In Asia, the Hang Seng Index surged 2.17% to 25,960 points. The China Enterprises Index rose 1.50% to 8,710 points. The Nikkei 225 gained 2.88% to 53,248 points.

【Chinese Indices】

On March 10, overnight, the Hang Seng Tech Index futures rose 2.60%, the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index increased 1.96%, and the FTSE China A50 Index gained 1.06%.

【Chinese Concept Stocks】

Popular Chinese stocks include Tencent Holdings (HK) up 7.27%, Alibaba up 3.16%, Pinduoduo up 2.16%, NetEase up 0.05%, Baidu up 2.47%, Ctrip down 1.04%, Li Auto down 0.39%, Xpeng Motors up 2.25%, NIO up 15.18%.

【Forex and Commodities】

As the market weighs conflicting signals from Trump regarding Iran, the US dollar index fluctuated, rising slightly to near 99 during the U.S. session before closing down 0.35% at 98.826.

Boosted by easing inflation concerns, spot gold briefly surpassed $5,230, but sharply dropped over $60 during the U.S. session, falling below $5,200. London gold closed up 1.01% at $5,191 per ounce; spot silver remained volatile at high levels, ending up 1.25% at $88.35 per ounce.

Due to President Trump’s claim that Middle East war “will end soon,” but with ongoing U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, oil prices remained volatile. Coupled with the escort “blunder,” WTI crude finally fell 8.3% to $86.9 per barrel, and Brent crude declined 7.64% to $91.4 per barrel.

【Key Highlights】

Iran states it will not trust any U.S. promises; “military actions entering a new phase” as U.S. hints at escort

Iran claims to have deployed hypersonic missiles. UK, German, and Italian leaders agree that maintaining the Strait of Hormuz open is crucial and will closely cooperate to counter Iran’s threats. The U.S. Energy Secretary claimed successful escort of an oil tanker through the strait, then deleted the post; Iran called this a complete lie. The White House confirmed no escort occurred; U.S. military said it struck 16 Iranian mine-laying boats near the strait. Trump warned that if Iran mines the strait, it will face severe consequences. The U.S. reportedly asked Iran to cease attacks on energy facilities. G7 officials called on IEA to update reserve data and explore details of releasing oil reserves. IEA held a special meeting but reportedly did not reach an agreement on releasing reserves.

Insiders reveal U.S. government asked Israel to stop attacking Iranian energy facilities

On March 10, three insiders disclosed that the Trump administration has asked Israel to halt further airstrikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, especially oil facilities. This is the first clear U.S. restriction on Israeli military actions since the joint U.S.-Israel operations against Iran began. The reasons include concerns over pushing up global oil prices and provoking large-scale Iranian retaliation in the Gulf. Insiders say the Trump administration views attacking Iranian oil facilities as a “last resort,” only to be used if Iran first attacks Gulf energy infrastructure.

NIO reports first quarterly profit, Q4 achieves operating profit of 1.25 billion yuan, surges after hours

Deliveries increased by 71.7%, with Q1 revenue guidance up 103.4% year-over-year to 109.2 billion yuan. NIO achieved a historic breakthrough in Q4 2025, turning profitable for the first time. Q4 revenue reached 34.65 billion yuan, with over 124,000 vehicles delivered, both record highs; gross margin soared to 18.1%, and net profit for the quarter was 727 million yuan. Through organizational optimization and cost reduction, NIO’s operational leverage significantly improved. Looking ahead to Q1 2026, the company expects deliveries of 80,000 to 83,000 vehicles, with revenue between 24.48 billion and 25.18 billion yuan, over 100% YoY growth.

Strong AI orders; Oracle beats expectations with over 20% growth in revenue and EPS last quarter, raises guidance, jumps over 8% after hours

In Q3, Oracle’s revenue and EPS grew over 20% for the first time in 15 years. Cloud revenue increased 44% YoY, with infrastructure-related IaaS up 84%. Future revenue guidance RPO surged 325% to $553 billion, mainly driven by large AI deals supported by customer prepayments or GPU purchases. FY2027 revenue guidance raised to $90 billion, up 34%. Capex guidance for FY2026 remains at $50 billion, with nine-month spending more than doubling YoY. The company expects no additional debt issuance in 2026. Stock rose over 10% after hours.

Nvidia expands AI footprint; Groq and Samsung AI chip orders may grow 70% to 15,000 units

Nvidia’s indirectly acquired AI chip company Groq has asked Samsung to increase its AI chip production from 9,000 to 15,000 wafers, about a 70% increase. Nvidia does not directly control management but collaborates via non-exclusive licensing. Groq’s production at Samsung is moving from prototyping to mass production, entering early-stage large-scale commercialization this year. Nvidia aims to extend its ecosystem into inference, with a planned GTC 2026 release of inference chips based on Groq’s design.

Amazon reportedly plans cross-market bond issuance up to $42 billion

Media reports indicate that Amazon plans to issue bonds simultaneously in the U.S. dollar and euro markets, targeting approximately $37 billion to $42 billion in total. Insiders say Amazon is marketing up to 11 tranches of investment-grade bonds, with maturities from 2 to 50 years, raising $25 billion to $30 billion.

Meta acquires AI agent social platform Moltbook

Facebook’s parent company Meta announced Tuesday that it has acquired Moltbook, a social platform built for AI agents, with its founders joining Meta’s AI research division.

Anthropic launches $50 billion industry with code review; code audit industry faces end

Anthropic added a code review feature to Claude Code, directly challenging the $50 billion code security audit industry. Traditional tools cost up to $50,000 annually with high false-positive rates, while Claude deploys multi-agent teams for parallel review at a cost of only $15–25 per review. Internal tests show the proportion of pull requests with substantive review comments jumped from 16% to 54%, with engineer approval over 99%. The era of AI coding and review has arrived.

SpaceX favors NASDAQ IPO, with early inclusion in NASDAQ-100 as a condition

SpaceX’s IPO valuation could reach $1.75 trillion. Nasdaq proposed a “fast-track” rule last month: if a new stock ranks among the top 40 by market cap, it can be included in about a month. Early inclusion would attract passive funds and provide key support for the stock price.