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S&P 500 Index and VOO stock drops as Wall Street bank predicts more downside

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S&P 500 Index and VOO stock drops as Wall Street bank predicts more downside

The S&P 500 Index and VOO, its biggest exchange-traded fund, plunged for three consecutive days, reaching its lowest level since November last year. 

Summary

  • The S&P 500 Index continued its strong downward trend.
  • JPMorgan analysts expect the index to continue falling this month.
  • The index may still rebound later this year if Donald Trump capitulates on his war.

The blue-chip index, which tracks the biggest companies in the United States, dropped to $6,637, down by over 5.2% from its highest point this year.

This retreat happened as the crisis in the Middle East escalated, pushing crude oil prices to the highest point in years. Brent and the West Texas Intermediate rose to over $115 before paring back the gains.

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The rising crude oil prices pushed US bond yields higher, with the 10-year rising to 4.17% and the 30-year hitting 4.766%. This surge is a sign that market participants expects the Federal Reserve to maintain a hawkish tone this year.

JPMorgan predicts a S&P 500 Index crash 

Wall Street analysts are getting antsy about the market. In a research note, analysts at JPMorgan predicted that the index will move into a correction if the war continues. 

Dropping into a correction, which is defined as a 10% drop from its peak, will push it to $6,300, its lowest level since August last year.

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However, the analyst noted that signs of an off-ramp on the war in Iran will invalidate the bearish outlook. He noted:

“A definitive off-ramp to the conflict will end this tactical call as the underlying macro fundamentals remain supportive of risk-assets.”

Similarly, Yardeni, a top research company, boosted its odds of a market meltdown to 35% from the previous 20%.

Still, as we wrote earlier, there is a possibility that the S&P 500 and VOO stock will bounce back as President Donald Trump often pays close attention to the stock market and inflation. As such, there is a possibility that he will start to capitulate soon.

Looking ahead, the S&P 500 Index will react to the upcoming US consumer inflation report, which will come out on Wednesday. 

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Economists expect the report to show that the headline Consumer Price Index rose to 2.5% in February. A higher inflation than that, coupled with the rising oil prices, may also push Trump to capitulate on his war.

The index will also react to the upcoming Oracle earnings, which will come out on Tuesday. Oracle has become a major player in the artificial intelligence industry thanks to its huge backlog.

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Crypto World

Telegram Has Been Downloaded Over 50M Times in Iran, Despite Ban: Durov

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Decentralization, Privacy, Liberty, Telegram, Cypherpunks, Pavel Durov

The Iranian government’s attempt to block the Telegram messaging application in the country has backfired, as users find ways to circumvent national firewalls and online controls, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov.

“Iran banned Telegram years ago,” Durov said on Friday; however, tens of millions of users in the country have managed to access the application via virtual private networks (VPNs) and other similar tools, he added.

VPNs route web traffic through servers distributed around the globe to mask the true Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of users and obscure their locations. This allows individuals with VPN access to bypass national online restrictions. Durov said:

“The government hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps, but got mass adoption of VPNs instead. Now, 50 million members of the digital resistance in Iran are joined by over 50 million more in Russia.”

Decentralization, Privacy, Liberty, Telegram, Cypherpunks, Pavel Durov
Source: Pavel Durov

Decentralized technologies like blockchain, crypto and encrypted messaging applications can mitigate or neutralize state-imposed online restrictions and surveillance infrastructure, promoting individual liberty, proponents of decentralized technology say.

Related: Global turmoil pushes uptake of decentralized messengers, social media

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Users turn to decentralized alternatives amid online blackouts

The government of Iran imposed a nationwide internet blackout in January 2026, amid growing protests and civil unrest, which is still in effect due to the ongoing war between Israel, the United States and Iran.

Residents in the country can still access the internet through Starlink, a satellite-based network, or communicate via BitChat, a messaging application that uses Bluetooth radio waves to form a mesh network between devices.

BitChat’s mesh network transforms each device into a relay node that transfers data to other devices running the application within range, bypassing online and satellite-based systems entirely.

Decentralization, Privacy, Liberty, Telegram, Cypherpunks, Pavel Durov
The components of the BitChat messaging application tech stack. Source: GitHub

The government of Nepal imposed a social media ban in September 2025 amid growing protests, causing a spike in BitChat downloads.

Bitchat was downloaded over 48,000 times in Nepal the week of the social media ban, and the government of Nepal was toppled by protestors that same month.

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The application recorded a similar download spike in Madagascar amid protests, which also occurred around the same time as the political revolution in Nepal.

Magazine: Did Telegram’s Pavel Durov commit a crime? Crypto lawyers weigh in