Stocks built on yesterday’s gains in spite of the ongoing conflict in Iran. A rise in oil propelled energy stocks higher.

Your Evening Briefing

March 17, 2026

 

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Stocks edge higher as investors shrug off an uptick oil prices

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 built on yesterday’s gains despite an advance in crude oil. Energy was the best-performing sector, followed by consumer discretionary.

Health care fared the worst as the sector was dragged down by Eli Lilly, whose shares fell after it received its only sell rating as HSBC downgraded the stock, citing a smaller market for weight-loss drugs.

Bitcoin continued to remain stable after logging eight consecutive days of gains, its longest winning streak in four years.

The Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting, where prediction markets indicate that the Federal Reserve is seen as a near lock to keep its policy rate unchanged.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Stocks that moved higher:

  • Uber and Lyft rose on their expanded robotaxi partnerships with Nvidia.
  • Lemonade soared after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight,” with a new price target of $85 (from $80).
  • Delta Air Lines and American Airlines rose after boosting their Q1 sales guidance, sending United Airlines and Southwest Airlines higher as well.
  • Frontier Airlines gained after saying revenue per mile would increase by the mid-teens, compared to its earlier guidance of more than 10%.
  • Space, drone, and satellite stocks Rocket Lab, Planet Labs, AST SpaceMobile, Redwire, and Intuitive Machines continued their Iran war-driven rally.

Stocks that moved lower:

  • Nebius sank after announcing that it aims to raise $3.75 billion in a convertible loan offering.
  • Beyond Meat slipped after delaying its annual report.
  • Boeing dipped after pushing back its goal of positive margins for its commercial jet division to next year.
  • Cango, a former automotive service-turned bitcoin miner, sank after selling 4,451 bitcoin to pay down long-term debt and “reduce the overall finance leverage and strengthen the balance sheet.”

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  • The emerging 2-tier system for moving oil through dangerous waters
    The road less traveled, or the waters more mined.
  • Investors just raised the most cash since the March 2020 pandemic panic
    It’s just a caution, though.
  • Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says the chip designer is getting closer to selling AI chips to China
    The H200 saga’s runtime has long passed The Lord of the Rings Director’s Cut edition.
  • Morgan Stanley thinks Tesla’s Terafab could cost an additional $35 billion to $45 billion in capex
    That’s on top of the record $20 billion Tesla says it expects to spend on capex this year. 
  • Amazon introduces 1- and 3-hour delivery options in hundreds of new towns and cities
    One-hour delivery is available in “hundreds of cities and towns” in the US, and three-hour options are offered in “over 2,000 cities and towns,” both available seven days a week though their regular same-day shopping experience. 
  • OpenAI snags Amazon AWS deal for classified government work with Anthropic pushed aside
    Anthropic’s designation as a supply chain risk cleared the way for OpenAI to land a contract for classified and unclassified work that uses AWS, rather than Microsoft Azure. 
 

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