Stock Market Today: Dow Drops 300+ Points, Oil Prices Soar—Is a Rebound Coming?

Wall Street wavered into Thursday after a choppy session that left the major averages little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 48,861.81, sinking 0.57% and logging a fifth consecutive loss, while the S&P 500 inched 0.04% lower to 7,135.98; the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.04% gain to 24,673.24. Stock futures extended the cautious tone before the bell: S&P 500 contracts slipped 0.22%, Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.23% and Dow futures dropped roughly 285 points, or 0.58%. Big Tech earnings dictated overnight sentiment. Alphabet rallied about 7% after cloud-driven revenue topped expectations, while Amazon gained roughly 3% on better-than-forecast AWS growth. Microsoft was flat despite a 40% jump in Azure sales, and Meta tumbled 7% as the social-media giant lifted 2026 capital-expenditure guidance to as high as $145 billion and posted sluggish user growth. Macro headwinds added to the mix. The Federal Reserve left its target rate unchanged at 3.5%–3.75% in an 8-4 vote—the most dissents since 1992—and signaled little appetite for near-term cuts amid sticky inflation. Traders now eye the first-quarter GDP flash, the core PCE inflation gauge and weekly jobless claims for fresh policy clues later today. Geopolitics drove another leg higher in energy markets: Brent crude climbed toward $120 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate hovered just above $107 after reports that Washington is preparing for an extended naval blockade of Iran, stoking supply-disruption fears. Rising oil prices pressured transport and consumer-discretionary names but lent support to energy shares. April remains a standout month for equities despite the mid-week stumble. Entering the final trading day, the S&P 500 is up 9.3% and the Nasdaq has surged 14.3%, both pacing for their best monthly returns since 2020, while the Dow is on track for a 5.4% gain, its strongest since November 2024. Looking ahead, investors will parse earnings from Caterpillar, Merck, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb before the open and scrutinize Apple’s numbers after the close. With “Magnificent Seven” results largely in, attention may shift back to macro data, oil prices and next week’s jobs report as key catalysts for the stock market today.