Stock Market Update Tuesday March 17, 2026
- Mar 17
- 3 min read
March 17, 2026 - Stock Market Update: U.S. stocks rose for the second day in a row. The S&P 500 closed up about 0.25%, though it didn't reach its highest point of the day. Energy stocks did best, helped by rising crude oil prices. Consumer Discretionary stocks continued to climb. Tech stocks mostly went up, but not as consistently as yesterday. Financial stocks also increased. Consumer Staples and Healthcare stocks, which are usually more stable, didn't do as well and ended the day down. In after-hours trading, DOCU went up about 2% after rising almost 6% earlier. LULU announced its earnings, and its stock price fell about 2% after the market closed.
Score Board:
SPY: +0.40%
QQQ: +0.50%
IWM: +0.70%
Away From Stocks: Treasury yields decreased slightly today. The 2-year yield remained unchanged at 3.68%, while the 30-year yield fell from 4.86% on Monday to 4.85%.
WTI crude oil increased by 3% to $96 per barrel, which benefited energy stocks. Gold prices remained stable, holding just above $5,000. Bitcoin reached near six-week highs at $74,500, indicating a continued willingness to take risks among investors. The VIX (volatility index) dropped to the low-22 range, suggesting that expectations for short-term market volatility are decreasing.
Our investment approach is disciplined and long-only. We do not engage in short selling. In our long-term portfolio, we focus exclusively on high-quality companies with a demonstrated history of operational excellence and consistent shareholder value creation. However, in our short-term speculative portfolio, some stocks we post may be driven by other factors, such as notable options flow, proprietary algorithms and seasonality. We rely on our proprietary algorithms to identify high-probability entry points, whether to initiate new positions or to strategically add to existing holdings.
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