(Editor’s note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, the economic data and the headline were updated in the story.)
U.S. stocks dropped on Thursday, which is the last trading day of the week, as the market will be closed for Good Friday. Futures of the major benchmark indices were lower after President Donald Trump‘s address to update on the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 28 fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000, beating expectations and signaling a steady employment landscape.
Meanwhile, the U.S. trade deficit expanded in February to $57.3 billion, a $2.7 billion increase from January’s revised figure, as a surge in imports of capital goods and computers outpaced gains in exports.
Trump’s address skipped words like ceasefire or de-escalation, as he reiterated the points he made in his social media posts over the last two weeks. He threatened to ‘hit’ Iran’s electric plants and warned of relentless military strikes on Iran for another “two to three weeks,” which triggered an advance in the crude oil prices.
Economist Peter Schiff noted a broad market sell-off across stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrency as President “re-escalates the war with Iran,” pointing out the stark contrast between the extended military action and the president’s claims of a historic victory.
Stocks, bonds, gold, and Bitcoin are selling off, and oil is rallying as Trump re-escalates the war with Iran, despite the fact that we’ve already achieved the most glorious and brilliant victory in the history of war. Soon gold will break this trend and rally in tandem with oil.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) April 2, 2026
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.37%, and the two-year bond was at 3.84%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 97.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in its April meeting.
Index
Performance (+/-)
Dow Jones
-0.89%
S&P 500
-1.09%
Nasdaq 100
-1.46%
Russell 2000
-1.47%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 1.59% at $644.84, while the QQQ declined 2.01% to $572.54.
