Israel-US-Iran War: S&P 500 Shreds Over $1 Trillion Market Cap Last Week

Amid the ongoing Israel-US-Iran war, the US stock market remained under pressure for the four straight week.

The S&P 500 index shredded over 2.50% in the past week, losing a market cap of over $1 trillion. This US stock market benchmark index has been reeling under pressure since the fear of $3 trillion in market cap.

According to a Bloomberg report, the benchmark S&P 500 finished below its 200-day moving average on Thursday, a key level of the market’s overall health that could trigger forced selling.

Also Read: Iran Ready To Let Japanese Vessels Transit Hormuz

Why Is The US Stock Market Falling?

Sameer Samana, Head of Global Equities and Real Assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told Bloomberg, “Given recent volatility, today could almost be described as unchanged, but clearly the bias has been lower. I think the true test of today will be what investors decide to do at the close, before the weekend.”

Currently, the market is bracing for increased volatility amid $5.7 trillion in notional options tied to individual stocks, indexes, and exchange-traded funds which were due to expire on Friday.

The quarterly event that traders call “triple-witching” has a reputation of resulting in volatile price swings as the pools of derivatives exposure disappear.

Israel-US-Iran War

The Middle East crisis escalated after Iran attacked several Arab states post Israel's signal that indicate refrain from hitting the country's energy infrastructure. Reportedly, US is mulling over plans to take over Iran's oil export facility in Kharg Island.

US-Fed Rate Cut

The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, said officials will not lower interest rates until inflation lowers as it was too early to determine the impact of rising oil prices on the US economy.