U.S. stocks close: S&P and Nasdaq record their biggest single-day decline since the start of the war; Trump speaks after hours

Cailian Press March 27 News (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) Last night and this morning, as the deadline for Trump’s adjusted “attack on Iranian energy facilities” approaches, and with no signs of negotiation between the U.S. and Iran, the U.S. stock market experienced a steady decline throughout the day. The S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Index recorded their largest single-day drops since the outbreak of war between the U.S. and Iran on February 28. Gold and silver prices fell, while oil prices surged again.

At the close, the S&P 500 Index fell by 1.74%, closing at 6477.16 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 2.38%, closing at 21408.08 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.01%, closing at 45960.11 points.

In addition to the largest single-day drop in nearly a month, the S&P 500 Index also significantly fell below the 6500-point mark, setting a new low since early September last year. The Nasdaq Index also experienced the largest single-day drop since November 20, 2025.

(Source: TradingView)

Looking at the trends, it’s not difficult to understand that there were no positive developments in the Middle East situation yesterday.

According to reports from media outlets like CCTV News, Iran has responded to the U.S. “15-point ceasefire proposal” through intermediaries, clearly stating “four musts”: the aggression and terrorist actions of the enemy must stop; objective conditions must be created to ensure that the war does not reoccur; there must be a clear commitment to compensate for war damages and its implementation; all resistance organizations involved in the war must be urged to cease actions.

Iran also emphasized that its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is a “natural and legitimate right.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the U.S. is preparing a so-called “final strike” military option against Iran, which includes the use of ground troops and large-scale airstrike operations targeting Iran’s major oil export hubs and nuclear facilities.

Israel stated that it conducted airstrikes on Iran’s southern port of Abadan the previous night, resulting in the deaths of several senior members of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, including Commander Ali Reza Tangsiri and Navy Intelligence Director Behnam Rezai.

Adding to the woes of the stock market, Trump also stated during the live broadcast of the Cabinet meeting on Thursday that the rise in oil prices and the extent of the stock market decline were not as severe as he had anticipated.

(On March 26, 2026, local time in Washington, U.S. President Trump spoke at a Cabinet meeting at the White House)

Just 11 minutes after the market closed local time on Thursday, Trump posted on social media that at the request of the Iranian government, he would pause attacks on Iranian energy facilities for 10 days, resuming at 8 PM Eastern Time on April 6.

He also stated that the current negotiations were “progressing smoothly,” denying media reports about the negotiations not going well.

Adam Turnquist, Chief Technical Strategist at LPL Financial, commented: “The war with Iran and the resulting surge in oil prices continue to suppress risk appetite, and any sustainable market recovery will require substantial progress in reaching a peace agreement and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.”

Performance of Popular Stocks

By market capitalization, at the close, Nvidia fell by 4.16%, Apple rose by 0.11%, Google-A fell by 3.44%, Microsoft fell by 1.37%, Amazon fell by 1.97%, TSMC fell by 6.22%, Broadcom fell by 2.95%, Tesla fell by 3.59%, Meta fell by 7.96%, and Berkshire Hathaway-A fell by 0.35%.

The significant drop in Meta was related to a recent U.S. court ruling that the company (and YouTube under Google) must pay $3 million in damages to a 20-year-old woman who has been addicted to social media since childhood. This case and its subsequent hearings could have a significant impact on the operational methods of social media platforms.

Micron Technology fell for the sixth consecutive trading day, dropping 6.97% on Thursday, having retraced over 23% from its historical high on March 18 (when it released its earnings report). SanDisk fell by 11.02%, Seagate fell by 8.33%, and Western Digital fell by 7.7%. Analysts pointed out that in addition to the overall market downturn, Google’s TurboQuant AI compression algorithm exacerbated selling sentiment.

In this regard, Joseph Moore, a semiconductor industry analyst at Morgan Stanley, released a report on Thursday refuting that the recent pullback in storage stocks more reflects the market’s concerns about the sustainability of the cycle being priced in early, rather than a weakening of the fundamental demand.

Moore also stated that memory is becoming the “core bottleneck” in the construction of AI servers and new generation CPUs, even prompting customers to make advance payments to secure capacity. As for memory compression technologies like Google TurboQuant, they should be viewed as routine efficiency optimizations that do not change long-term demand trends.

Chinese concept stocks also weakened under the drag of the broader market, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index falling by 2.55% on Thursday.

At the close, Alibaba fell by 3.43%, Pinduoduo fell by 1.94%, NetEase fell by 2.76%, JD.com fell by 1.92%, Baidu fell by 4.92%, Trip.com fell by 2.18%, Li Auto fell by 2.77%, Futu Holdings fell by 3.03%, Bilibili fell by 4.67%, and NIO fell by 3.81%.

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