Oil dips, stocks tick up

Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant was reported hit by an unidentified projectile in mid‑March, with Rosatom saying the strike landed near a metrology building and Iran notifying the IAEA on March 17–18 that there was no release of nuclear material. (abcnews.com) Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said a second projectile struck Bushehr’s grounds on the night of March 24, a development the U.N. nuclear watchdog said prompted calls for “maximum restraint” to avoid radiological risk. (upi.com) The market swing began after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled productive talks and a temporary pause on strikes in late March, a shift Bloomberg reported as the catalyst for investors to pare risk premia tied to Middle East supply disruption. (bloomberg.com) That diplomatic signal preceded an intraday collapse in oil: Brent plunged from near $120 to about $100 and U.S. crude (WTI) briefly dipped to roughly $84 per barrel on March 23, one of the largest single‑day moves of the episode. (newswav.com) By March 26, WTI traded back near the low‑$90s (about $91.8 per barrel), reflecting highly volatile repositioning as traders balanced de‑escalation hopes against renewed flareups. (tradingeconomics.com) Airline and travel equities have been repriced sharply for fuel risk — some major carriers were down double digits over recent weeks and analysts flagged jet‑fuel pressure as a material drag on margins heading into the spring quarter. (benzinga.com) Separately, regulators and market watchers noted an unusual spike in oil futures trades minutes before the president’s announcement, prompting media reports of potential insider‑trading scrutiny as the sequence of diplomatic comments moved markets. (cbsnews.com)