{"id":59737,"date":"2026-03-13T09:07:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/market-braces-for-pce-data-amid-oil-surge-and-geopolitical-tensions\/59737\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:07:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:07:28","slug":"market-braces-for-pce-data-amid-oil-surge-and-geopolitical-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/market-braces-for-pce-data-amid-oil-surge-and-geopolitical-tensions\/59737\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Braces for PCE Data Amid Oil Surge and Geopolitical Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. stock futures are showing signs of stabilization early Friday, March 13, 2026, as investors attempt to recover from a brutal sell-off in the previous session. Premarket<\/a> activity indicates a cautious bounce, with futures tied to the S&P 500<\/a> (SPX<\/a>) rising 0.3% and Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average (DJI<\/a>) futures gaining approximately 140 points, or 0.3%. The Nasdaq 100 (NDX<\/a>) futures are also edging higher by 0.3%, though the tech-heavy index remains under pressure following significant losses earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

Major Market Indexes and Performance<\/h2>\n

The modest premarket<\/a> gains follow a disastrous Thursday where all three major U.S. stock indexes closed at their lowest levels of 2026. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI<\/a>) plummeted nearly 740 points, closing below the 47,000 mark for the first time this year. The S&P 500 (SPX<\/a>) declined 1.5% to 6,672.58, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC<\/a>) shed 1.78% to end at 22,311.98.<\/p>\n

The primary catalyst for this volatility remains the escalating war in the Middle East. Rhetoric from Iran\u2019s leadership regarding the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent Brent crude oil prices soaring past $100 per barrel. This surge in energy costs has reignited stagflation fears, as investors worry that higher fuel prices will both stifle economic growth and keep inflation stubbornly high.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Market Events<\/h2>\n

All eyes are on the release of January\u2019s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, scheduled for this morning. As the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE data will be critical in determining the central bank's next moves. Analysts expect headline PCE to rise 0.3% month-over-month and 2.9% year-over-year. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, is projected to increase 0.4% monthly.<\/p>\n

In addition to inflation data, the University of Michigan will release its preliminary March Consumer Sentiment index. Forecasters expect a reading of 56.2, reflecting a gloomy outlook among households due to rising gas prices. Other key data points today include the first revision of Q4 U.S. GDP growth and the January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).<\/p>\n

Major Stock News and Corporate Developments<\/h2>\n

In corporate news, Adobe (ADBE<\/a>) shares fell more than 8% in premarket trading. Despite reporting upbeat first-quarter financial results, the company surprised investors with the announcement that CEO Shantanu Narayen will transition out of his role once a successor is appointed.<\/p>\n

Ulta Beauty (ULTA<\/a>) is also a significant decliner, with shares dropping nearly 9% after the cosmetics retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings per share that missed consensus estimates. Conversely, Darden Restaurants (DRI<\/a>) saw its stock climb 5.6% premarket following a strong performance update.<\/p>\n

In the technology sector, Nvidia (NVDA<\/a>) remains in focus as it reportedly enters the "AI model wars," a move that could put it in direct competition with its largest cloud customers, including Microsoft (MSFT<\/a>), Amazon (AMZN<\/a>), and Alphabet (GOOGL<\/a>). Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT<\/a>) has launched "Copilot Health," a dedicated AI assistant for medical history and wearable data.<\/p>\n

The energy crisis has created a divergence in sector performance. While Apple (AAPL<\/a>) and Tesla (TSLA<\/a>) have struggled due to recession fears and high valuation multiples, fertilizer stocks like Mosaic (MOS<\/a>), CF Industries (CF<\/a>), and Nutrien (NTR<\/a>) are trending higher. These companies are benefiting from concerns that the Strait of Hormuz closure will severely limit global fertilizer supplies. In the financial sector, Morgan Stanley (MS<\/a>) and JPMorgan (JPM<\/a>) remain under scrutiny after Thursday's weakness, which was triggered by redemption limits at a private-credit fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. stock futures are showing signs of stabilization early Friday, March 13, 2026, as investors attempt to recover from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,6824],"tags":[3818,4,4223,33,4380,4457,225,4459,309,5030,633,1615,3710,3749,3768],"class_list":["post-59737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-update","category-featured","tag-jolts","tag-tsla","tag-inflation","tag-msft","tag-stock-market","tag-oil-prices","tag-aapl","tag-geopolitical-risk","tag-adbe","tag-energy","tag-nvda","tag-ulta","tag-federal-reserve","tag-pce","tag-googl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}