The Dow Jones Industrial Average logo appears on the screen of a smartphone in Reno, United States, on December 1, 2024. (Photo by Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday.
A surge in markets reversed a selloff that hammered tech stocks earlier in the week.
The Dow closed up 1,206 points, or 2.4%, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.9%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 2.1%.
In a post on social media, President Donald Trump touted the high-water mark for the Dow, celebrating the feat as “the first time in History.”
“CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!” Trump said.
Shares of some tech companies worldwide plummeted in recent days after Anthropic unveiled an artificial intelligence tool viewed by some investors as a potential replacement for widely-used software products.
The selloff came in response to a set of new plugins for a digital tool called Claude Cowork, an AI-fueled workplace assistant that can author documents and organize files. The plugins, released last Friday, allow customers to adapt the tool for narrow sectors like legal, finance or data marketing.
Investors appeared to shrug off the AI-related worries in a buying spree on Friday.
AI chip giant Nvidia surged nearly 8%, recovering most of its losses earlier in the week.
Enterprise-software company Workday ticked up more than 2% on Friday, after a selloff in previous days triggered by the release of Claude Cowork.
Some crypto prices also rallied on Friday, ending a days-long plunge for many digital currencies. Bitcoin and Ether — the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies — each soared about 10% on Friday.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Stocks tumbled in early trading on Monday as oil prices soared above $100 per barrel in response to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 720 points, or 1.5%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.2%.
Indexes fell worldwide on Monday as the spike in oil prices rippled through global markets. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.2%, while pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 1.7%.
Oil prices soared as traders feared a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply.
U.S. crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel on Monday, marking a staggering 54% increase since late last month.
Oil prices climbed as high as nearly $120 per barrel overnight, but retreated after the Financial Times reported Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers would meet to discuss a possible coordinated release from their respective strategic petroleum reserves.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. soared to $3.47 on Monday from $2.99 a week earlier, AAA said.
In a social media post on Sunday night, President Donald Trump downplayed the rise in oil prices.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” Trump said.
Soon after the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S.-Israeli forces killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on February 24, 2026 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 900 points on Thursday as the war with Iran escalated and oil prices continued to climb.
The Dow fell 908 points, or 1.8%, while S&P 500 dropped 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.9%.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. recorded strong job gains in March, rebounding from dismal losses a month earlier, a jobs report on Friday showed. The reading far exceeded economists’ expectations.
The U.S. added 178,000 jobs in March, according to the report, which marked a sharp increase from 133,000 jobs lost in the previous month.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in March from 4.4% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. Unemployment remains low by historical standards.
The BLS collected survey data through the second week of March, before the full effects of the oil shock set off by the Iran war.
As in previous months, the health care sector stood out as a top source of hiring in March, adding 76,000 jobs, the BLS said. The construction sector, as well as transportation and logistics, also contributed to the surge in hiring.
Employment in the federal government continued to decline in March, shedding 18,000 jobs, the BLS said. The federal government has lost 355,000 jobs, or nearly 12% of its workforce, since October 2024, a month before President Donald Trump was elected.
The government report arrived as the war continues to drive up gasoline prices and borrowing costs, threatening a drag on the economy.
The U.S. added an average of about 15,000 jobs per month in 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed. That performance amounted to a sharp slowdown from 186,000 jobs added each month in 2024.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began on Feb. 28, triggered one of the worst global oil shocks in decades, prompting gloomy forecasts on Wall Street of a potential U.S. recession over the coming months.
In theory, a prolonged oil shortage could drive up prices for a vast array of goods, sapping energy from consumer spending, which powers most of the nation’s economic growth.
Iran has mounted an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
The disruption in oil shipping has pushed U.S. crude prices above $110 a barrel, which marks a staggering rise of more than 50% since the war began on Feb. 28.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. ticked up to $4.08 on average per gallon as of Wednesday, marking a leap of $1.09 over the past month, AAA data showed.
A potential jump in costs for additional goods delivered through the Strait of Hormuz — such as fertilizer and diesel fuel — could also raise prices beyond gasoline, putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates in an effort to quell possible inflation.
The benchmark interest rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the Fed moved to raise interest rates, it would hike borrowing costs for many consumer and business loans, risking a slowdown in hiring.
Speaking at Harvard University on Monday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could take a patient approach as it monitors potential price effects from the Middle East conflict.
“We feel like our policy is in a good place for us to wait and see how that turns out,” Powell said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the time period covered by the BLS survey.
