S&P 500 - Tapbit News

S&P 500 Futures Slide as Oil Rally and Geopolitical Risk Shake US Markets

2026-03-02 by yunying

US index futures tied to the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq turned sharply lower in one volatile trading period as a surge in crude oil prices and heightened Middle East tensions sent shockwaves through global markets. The move marked a clear shift toward risk-off sentiment, with investors reassessing growth expectations and the outlook … Read more

BlockBeats news, March 3, according to The Block, Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific announced its fourth-quarter results, with mining revenue declining amid increased deployment of high-density hosting services. The financial report shows the company's total revenue for the fourth quarter was $79.8 million, down from $94.9 million in the same period last year. Among this, Bitcoin mining business revenue fell to $42.2 million, compared to $79.9 million in the same period of 2024, a significant decrease.However, Core Scientific emphasized that its data center hosting service revenue grew substantially to $31.3 million, up from $8.5 million in 2024. This growth is primarily attributed to the operational expansion of the hosting business. The hosting model refers to companies renting non-owned computing infrastructure for deployment.

BlockBeats news, March 3, Ebrahim Jabari, an advisor to the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, stated that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed, and Iran will fire on any vessels attempting to pass, and will attack oil pipelines and transmission lines. This is the most explicit warning from Iran since Saturday when it informed ships that it would close this exit channel. This move could obstruct one-fifth of global oil transportation and drive a significant surge in crude oil prices. According to a Fox News reporter, the U.S. Central Command stated that the Strait of Hormuz is not closed, despite the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's claims. Iran is not patrolling the strait, and there are currently no signs that it is mining the strait.International crude oil settlement prices rose sharply. As of the close on the 2nd, the price of light crude oil futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange increased by $4.21, closing at $71.23 per barrel, a gain of 6.28%. U.S. Secretary of State Rubio stated on Monday that the United States will take measures to alleviate the energy price increases caused by the oil price surge due to the Iran conflict. Rubio indicated that U.S. Treasury Secretary Besant and Energy Secretary Wright will announce relevant plans on Tuesday.Additionally, U.S. State Department officials stated that the U.S. State Department is urging American citizens to "leave immediately" from over a dozen countries and regions in the Middle East. These locations include Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE, and Yemen. According to CNN, a senior U.S. official revealed that the United States is preparing for a "large-scale attack" on Iran within the next 24 hours.Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen stated that the Iran conflict makes the Federal Reserve more inclined to keep interest rates unchanged. The duration of the Iran conflict's impact on the oil market will determine how much it will hurt U.S. economic growth and how much inflationary pressure it will bring, which will complicate the Federal Reserve's work. According to CME "FedWatch," the probability that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in March is 97.5%, and the market still bets on a policy of inaction in the short term. JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon said that if the Iran conflict does not prolong, there will be no severe inflation. The current situation will cause a slight increase in natural gas prices. The U.S. dollar index rose sharply by 0.79% on March 2, closing at 98.382 in the foreign exchange market's late session.

BlockBeats News, March 3rd – The U.S. Supreme Court earlier ruled that most of the tariff measures implemented by the Trump administration were invalid. The Department of Justice subsequently filed an appeal with the federal appeals court, requesting an additional 90-day buffer period to allow the executive and legislative branches time to consider options, totaling a maximum delay of approximately four months. However, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected this request from the Department of Justice, meaning that the subsequent steps in the tariff refund process can proceed swiftly.This ruling by the federal appeals court clears the way for the lower court, the U.S. Court of International Trade, to initiate legal proceedings related to tariff refunds. According to estimates from Department of Justice lawyers, the refund process may take several years to complete. Following the Supreme Court's ruling, hundreds of additional companies have filed tariff refund lawsuits, bringing the total number of tariff cases facing the Trump administration to over 2,000. (Jin10)