Market tumble sends investors scrambling: Here's what to do now

1 hour ago 2

Charley Blaine

Sun, March 22, 2026 astatine 1:08 PM CDT 7 min read

I plead blameworthy to understatement. These are unsettled times.

For everyone warring successful and astir the Persian Gulf. For families and friends of loved ones progressive successful the fighting. For politicians astir the globe.

For markets.

Markets person been bellowing ever since Israel and the United States attacked Iran aboriginal connected Feb. 28. What was expected to beryllium a twelvemonth of investors celebrating taxation cuts, little involvement rates and little inflation has been enactment aside. For now.

It's not wide however it each volition end. 2026 whitethorn decorativeness arsenic a boffo twelvemonth for markets. A near-disaster caused by Donald Trump's tariff connection connected April 2 was implicit and done with successful a month, and the large averages each returned 16% oregon amended for the year.

The warfare present makes this twelvemonth much complicated. The struggle successful the Persian Gulf has sent lipid and gasoline prices entity high this month. There are nary signs that they've peaked, and 1 indispensable determine what the ever-changing pronouncements from President Trump mean.

(On Saturday, the president threatened to stroke up Iran's energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz wasn't reopened by Monday.)

Despite all, the paths 1 mightiness instrumentality to determine however to header with this concern are going to beryllium similar.

When 2025 ended, anyone successful the markets was happy. The betterment from the alleged Tariff Tantrum successful April was much than conscionable dramatic. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index roared up 40. 6% from that bottom. The Nasdaq Composite changeable 52.5% higher. The Dow Jones industrials saw a 33.6% gain.

Better, lipid prices fell. So did involvement rates. Inflation was benign. Mortgage rates were headed toward 6% successful the United States. And golden and metallic conscionable took off.

Many investors looked guardant to a continued bull marketplace successful 2026.

The bully times were derailed by 3 events:

Wild speculation erupted successful bitcoin, which topped retired successful aboriginal October, and successful golden and silver. Those fevers broke successful January.
Software stocks started to plunge. Didn't substance if large oregon small. Much of it had to bash with however overmuch (or excessively much) Big Tech was spending connected information centers for artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Salesforce, and others conscionable tipped over. All of the Magnificent 7 stocks (Apple, Amazon.com, Google-parent Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) are down this twelvemonth and astatine slightest 10% from their 52-week peaks. Microsoft is down 31% from its top. Even Nvidia is disconnected nearly 19% from its high.
The Iran warfare erupted. This is the large 1 due to the fact that it is much superior than the U.S.-Israel attacks past summer, and nary 1 knows however it volition extremity oregon however it's expected to end. The warfare has pushed Brent crude, the planetary benchmark, up 84% this twelvemonth to $112 per 42-gallon barrel. Light saccharine crude, the U.S. benchmark has jumped 72% to $98 a barrel. U.S. gasoline prices deed $3.93 a gallon connected Saturday, according to AAA — a 38% increase.