{"id":59903,"date":"2026-03-18T07:09:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-navigates-geopolitical-tensions-and-federal-reserve-policy-shift\/59903\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:09:41","slug":"dowjonestodaydow-jones-navigates-geopolitical-tensions-and-federal-reserve-policy-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/dowjonestodaydow-jones-navigates-geopolitical-tensions-and-federal-reserve-policy-shift\/59903\/","title":{"rendered":"[DowJonesToday]Dow Jones Navigates Geopolitical Tensions and Federal Reserve Policy Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/dowjones\/today.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average (<a href=\"\/stock\/%5EDJI\">^DJI<\/a>)<\/strong> was up <strong>46.85 (0.10%)<\/strong> points today, reaching <strong>46,993.26<\/strong>, as the market balanced a complex narrative of central bank policy and escalating geopolitical risks. The primary driver for today&#39;s session is the <strong>Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)<\/strong> meeting, with investors closely monitoring <strong>Chair Jerome Powell\u2019s<\/strong> afternoon press conference. While the <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> is widely expected to maintain interest rates, market participants are searching for clues regarding the impact of rising energy costs\u2014driven by ongoing conflict in the <strong>Middle East<\/strong>\u2014on the long-term inflation outlook. <strong>Dow Futures (<a href=\"\/stock\/YM=F\">YM=F<\/a>)<\/strong> showed stronger momentum, up <strong>201.00 (0.42%)<\/strong> points to <strong>47,549.00<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the blue-chip gains, <strong>IBM (<a href=\"\/stock\/IBM\">IBM<\/a>)<\/strong> was up <strong>2.71%<\/strong> at <strong>$256.11<\/strong>, buoyed by strong demand for enterprise-grade artificial intelligence solutions. <strong>Disney (<a href=\"\/stock\/DIS\">DIS<\/a>)<\/strong> followed with a <strong>1.75%<\/strong> increase to <strong>$100.30<\/strong>, while <strong>Amazon (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>)<\/strong> rose <strong>1.48%<\/strong> to <strong>$215.20<\/strong>. Financial giant <strong>Goldman Sachs (<a href=\"\/stock\/GS\">GS<\/a>)<\/strong> also performed well, up <strong>1.41%<\/strong> at <strong>$807.04<\/strong>, as traders bet on a stabilizing yield environment. Other gainers included <strong>Nike (<a href=\"\/stock\/NKE\">NKE<\/a>)<\/strong>, up <strong>0.78%<\/strong> to <strong>$55.12<\/strong>, and <strong>American Express (<a href=\"\/stock\/AXP\">AXP<\/a>)<\/strong>, which was up <strong>0.76%<\/strong> at <strong>$300.27<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, the healthcare and industrial sectors faced pressure. <strong>Johnson &amp; Johnson (<a href=\"\/stock\/JNJ\">JNJ<\/a>)<\/strong> was down <strong>2.09%<\/strong> at <strong>$238.11<\/strong> following renewed litigation concerns. <strong>Salesforce (<a href=\"\/stock\/CRM\">CRM<\/a>)<\/strong> dropped <strong>1.48%<\/strong> to <strong>$195.31<\/strong>, and biotech leader <strong>Amgen (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMGN\">AMGN<\/a>)<\/strong> declined <strong>1.38%<\/strong> to <strong>$361.13<\/strong>. <strong>Boeing (<a href=\"\/stock\/BA\">BA<\/a>)<\/strong> was also down <strong>1.34%<\/strong> at <strong>$210.82<\/strong>, as geopolitical instability in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> raised fresh concerns about global supply chain disruptions and fuel costs. <strong>Honeywell (<a href=\"\/stock\/HON\">HON<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Verizon (<a href=\"\/stock\/VZ\">VZ<\/a>)<\/strong> also saw declines of <strong>1.32%<\/strong> and <strong>1.01%<\/strong>, respectively, as investors rotated out of defensive positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was up 46.85 (0.10%) points today, reaching 46,993.26, as the market balanced a complex [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50368,"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 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