S&P 500 slide — Q1 drop
The S&P 500 finished Q1 down about 4.6% as volatility settled into a weekly pattern of strong starts, flat midweeks and late‑week selloffs tied to Middle East conflict — choppy market tone heading into April. (bloomberg.com) (finance.yahoo.com)
S&P 500 ended Tuesday’s trading at 6,528.52 after a 2.91% rally that CNBC called the benchmark’s best day since May. (cnbc.com) Two sessions earlier the index plunged 108.31 points to 6,368.85, a close Reuters-linked MarketMinute said was the lowest since August 2025. (markets.financialcontent.com) The Cboe VIX tumbled to about 25.25 on March 31 after sitting near 30.61 the prior session, reflecting a roughly 17.5% one‑day drop in the volatility gauge. (seekingalpha.com) Oil surged alongside the geopolitical shock: WTI crude settled above $100 on March 30 (about $102.88) and Brent closed near $112.78, with U.S. crude up roughly 53% for March, according to CNBC. (cnbc.com) Market breadth flipped on the late‑March rebound, with 421 S&P 500 stocks advancing on March 31, the most advancers year‑to‑date, while all seven megacaps rose at least 2.9% and powered communications and information‑technology gains. (ussanews.com) Earnings data injected another layer of context: FactSet’s pre‑report estimate for Q1 showed S&P 500 earnings growth of about 13.0% year‑over‑year, the firm said would mark six straight quarters of double‑digit growth if realized. (factset.com) Fixed‑income moves accompanied the swings, with the two‑year Treasury yield easing to roughly 3.76% on April 1 as traders trimmed some bets on more aggressive Fed tightening. (tradingeconomics.com)
