S&P 500 Hits New 2026 Low as Oil Tops $100, Capping Third Straight Weekly Loss

Brent crude oil futures climbed 2.67% on Friday to close at $103.14 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 3.11% to settle at $98.71 per barrel — keeping oil firmly above the psychologically important $100 threshold for a second consecutive session. The surge reflects the near-total disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei pledged to maintain the effective closure of the strait, defying international calls to restore transit. In response, the International Energy Agency coordinated the release of 400 million barrels from strategic stockpiles — the largest such action in history — but the measure has so far failed to cap prices as markets doubt the sustainability of reserves alone.

The persistent energy price spike is fueling inflationary pressures across the global economy. Consumer-facing industries are already feeling the squeeze, with transportation and manufacturing costs rising sharply. Analysts warn that if Hormuz transit remains blocked through April, the economic damage could rival the 1973 oil embargo in both scale and duration.

Adobe shares fell 7.58% on Friday, closing at $249.32, after the company announced late Thursday that CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down once a successor is named. The news, which came alongside Adobe's fiscal Q1 2026 earnings report, sent shares plunging as much as 9.3% in after-hours trading on Thursday, from the closing price of $269.78 to $250.20.

Narayen, who took the helm in 2007, oversaw Adobe's transformation from a boxed-software company into a cloud-based subscription powerhouse, growing annual revenue from roughly $3 billion to over $24 billion. He will remain as Chairman of the Board after departing the CEO role. The Board of Directors has appointed Lead Independent Director Frank Calderoni to chair a special committee that will evaluate both internal and external candidates for the position.

The leadership transition comes at a critical moment for Adobe, which faces mounting pressure to demonstrate that its AI investments — particularly in its Firefly generative AI suite — can drive meaningful new revenue. While Q1 earnings beat expectations, investors appeared to view the CEO departure as adding uncertainty to a company already navigating intense competition in the AI-powered creative tools market.

Nvidia shares closed at $180.25 on Friday, down 1.58%, as investors repositioned ahead of the company's marquee GTC 2026 developer conference kicking off Monday in San Jose. The decline came despite broadly positive sentiment around the event, with Wall Street analysts maintaining an average price target of $273.61 — implying nearly 50% upside from current levels.

The conference, running March 16 through 19, will feature CEO Jensen Huang's keynote address where investors expect updates on the Vera Rubin AI data center platform, the next generation of Nvidia's AI accelerator roadmap. Market participants are particularly focused on demand signals and supply capacity for the company's Blackwell GPU architecture, which has been in high demand from hyperscale cloud providers.

Nvidia's stock has been under pressure alongside the broader market selloff driven by the Iran conflict, falling roughly 15% from its recent highs. However, the GTC conference has historically served as a catalyst for the stock, and analysts widely view the event as an opportunity for Nvidia to reassert the strength of the AI infrastructure spending cycle despite macroeconomic headwinds.