Wall Street Closes Marginally Higher After Volatility from Iran-Israel Conflict
NEW YORK – The United States stock market wavered but remained resilient on Monday, 2 March 2026 local time. The S&P 500 closed trading nearly flat after facing sharp downward pressure following a combined American and Israeli military operation against Iran over the weekend.
At the opening of the session, markets experienced panic selling. The S&P 500 initially declined by as much as 1.2 percent from its intraday low. However, as trading neared its close, buying interest emerged, allowing the benchmark index to finish marginally higher, gaining 0.04 percent to 6,881.62.
The Nasdaq Composite, heavily weighted towards technology stocks, also recovered. After plummeting 1.6 percent earlier in the session, the index closed up 0.36 percent at 22,748.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained in correction territory, falling 73.14 points, or 0.15 percent, to 48,904.78, although it had previously dropped nearly 600 points.
Jeff Kilburg, CEO of KKM Financial, noted that market participants capitalised on the price decline as a buying opportunity as the S&P 500 approached its 2026 low. “Futures markets overreacted to the Iran conflict, thereby creating opportunities to buy when the S&P 500 approached its 2026 low,” he said, adding that the market remained within a bullish trend despite escalating geopolitical tensions.
The market recovery was supported by several factors. Crude oil prices, which had surged sharply, retreated from their daily highs, easing concerns about the conflict’s impact on the American economy. Simultaneously, investors returned to large-capitalisation technology shares such as Nvidia and Microsoft, which were valued for their strong fundamentals and substantial cash reserves, making them relatively resilient to market turbulence.
Geopolitically, the combined American and Israeli operation was reported to have resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described as one of the most pivotal moments for the Islamic Republic since 1979. President Donald Trump characterised the military operation as the “last and best opportunity” to eliminate the threat posed by the Iranian regime, estimating that the conflict could last four to five weeks, though potentially longer.