Assets across the board, excluding crude oil, experienced significant declines during the evening session.
On the evening of March 9, U.S. stock markets opened lower and extended their losses. As of the latest update, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all fell by more than 1%, with the Dow dropping sharply by 1.7%.
According to JPMorgan's trading desk, a potential conflict involving Iran could trigger a decline of up to 10% in the S&P 500 from recent highs, a risk for which U.S. equity traders are reportedly unprepared.
In the segment of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index declined by approximately 0.5%. Among individual stocks, Kingsoft Cloud Holdings saw a significant rise of over 15%. Chinese new energy vehicle stocks collectively advanced, with XPeng gaining over 8%, Li Auto increasing by more than 4%, and NIO rising over 2%.
In the precious metals market, spot gold maintained a substantial decline, falling over 1.8% at the time of reporting. Spot silver experienced a brief intraday rally, momentarily turning positive before resuming its downward trend.
Conversely, WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil saw short-term price increases.
Earlier, the French Finance Minister stated that the G7 had not yet reached a consensus on releasing strategic petroleum reserves.
Market focus remains centered on developments in the Middle East. According to a report from Iran's Mehr News Agency on March 9, Iranian forces launched the 31st wave of the "True Promise-4" offensive, utilizing powerful, ultra-heavy missiles to strike targets associated with the United States and Israel, an action described as a tribute to Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei.
A military source from Iran claimed that Iranian defenses had shot down more than 82 U.S. and Israeli drones and four F-15 fighter jets, while also destroying several radar installations belonging to the two nations.
The same source indicated that following damage to related systems, U.S. and Israeli tactics had shifted from targeted military operations to actions aimed at sowing panic, including in some instances the use of high-cost weapons against targets of limited value.
In other news, Iranian media reported on March 9 that Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei was scheduled to address the Iranian public for the first time in several hours.
Separately, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani government announced that, starting from 10:00 local time on March 9, all types of freight transport, including transit traffic, resumed passage through border checkpoints between Azerbaijan and Iran.
This development followed a statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on March 5, which reported that the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic had been targeted by a drone attack originating from Iranian territory. Subsequently, the Azerbaijani government Press Office stated that, considering the situation, it had decided to temporarily suspend the passage of all freight vehicles, including transit traffic, through border crossings with Iran.
Comments