U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday, with each of the three major U.S. indexes closing at their lowest levels in over seven months and the Dow confirming it was in correction territory as the month-long Middle East war continued to suppress risk appetite. Markets took little solace from U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he gave Iran another 10 days to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy plants, after Iran rejected his ‌proposals to end the ⁠war that ⁠began with U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. could achieve its objectives in Iran without the use of any ground troops and expected its operation to conclude in a matter of weeks, despite recent deployments of additional forces to the region. U.S. crude settled up 5.46% at $99.64 a barrel and Brent rose 4.22% to settle at $112.57 per barrel, but they were little changed on the week.

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq each suffered their fifth straight weekly decline, the longest such streak in nearly four years. The Dow is now down more than 10% from its February 10 record close, becoming the latest major index to confirm a correction, commonly defined as a drop of 10% from its prior high. The Dow follows the Nasdaq in crossing the correction threshold while the Russell 2000, ⁠which was ‌the first on the correction path, confirmed it last Friday.

“Clearly, the overall tone has turned very negative and now we have broken down into correction territory,” said Ken Polcari, partner and chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth in Jupiter, Florida.

“In the end, I would view this as ⁠a big opportunity, but would not be surprised if we see a drawdown anywhere between 15% to 20% before it is over.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 793.47 points, or 1.73%, to 45,166.64, the S&P 500 lost 108.31 points, or 1.67%, to 6,368.85 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 459.72 points, or 2.15%, to 20,948.36.

The CBOE Volatility Index, considered Wall Street’s fear gauge, was up 3.61 points to close at 31.05, its highest close since April 21.
Megacaps were the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P index, with Nvidia down 2.2% as the biggest weight, while Amazon dropped 4%. Software shares were also under renewed selling pressure, and the S&P 500 software and services index closed at its lowest level since November 6, 2023. Along with pressure from Amazon, consumer discretionary stocks dropped 3.1%, the worst-performing of the 11 major S&P sectors, as cruise operator Carnival slumped 4.3% after cutting its ‌annual adjusted profit forecast. Fellow cruise operator Norwegian tumbled 6.9%. The surge in oil prices along with other products such as fertilizer as a result of the Iran war has fanned inflation fears and dampened expectations that the Federal Reserve and other central banks have room to lower interest rates. Money market participants are not pricing in ⁠any easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve this year, compared with expectations of two cuts before the conflict broke out, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. Markets are now pricing in a roughly 25% chance for a hike of at least 25 basis points at the Fed’s October meeting. Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson acknowledged the risks to the economy from the war, but did not specify what it meant for monetary policy in the near term. U.S. consumer sentiment eased to a three-month low in March, raising concerns about the economy due to the Middle East war.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.38-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.62-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and 27 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 355 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 18.13 billion shares, compared with the 20.4 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Cees ´t Hart

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It’ 10 a.m., so I propose that we open this meeting. Welcome. I’m Cees ´t Hart. I Chair the Supervisory Board, and I’m pleased to open this Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and welcome you all. I’m also pleased to welcome those following this meeting online.

Today, all members of the Executive Board are present. From left to right, they’re seated at the table, our COO, Jesus Echevarria; our CHRO, Myriam Beatove, CFO; Jorge Vazquez and our birthday boy, Sander van ‘t Noordende. And we hope that you’ll join us for coffee on his behalf. I’m not going to sing happy birthday because I’m not sure what the result would be, but welcome, but welcome Sander van ‘t Noordende on behalf of the Supervisory Board, alongside myself. From left to right, the Audit Committee Chair, Laurence Debroux, the Remuneration Committee Chair, Annet Aris and Jeroen Drost. The other members of the Supervisory Board are attending the meeting online. Also with us this morning is

Also with us this morning is Jacobina Brinkman from the accountancy firm,PricewaterhouseCoopers at 2D adoption of the 2025 financial statements. She’ll be happy to answer questions concerning the financial statements. Previous — prior to this, she’ll deliver a brief explanation about the annual audit process and the auditor’s report. We also have with us the Company Secretary, Jelle Miedema, who I hereby appoint as Secretary of the meeting and will first explain some procedural matters.

Mumbai: The yield on the 10-year benchmark government bond jumped seven basis points to close at 6.94% Friday, as the cut in fuel excise duty clouded fiscal outlook, intensified by high state bond supply and increasing oil prices.

The yield rose more than 20 basis points this week, the most since May 2022, LSEG data showed.

The 10-year bond opened at 6.93% and traded in a range of 6.95% to 6.90%, according to Clearing Corporation of India data.

“The opening and follow-up action both were weak today. One would have expected some demand to emerge after yields touched 6.95%, but there was no retracement,” said Vijay Sharma, senior executive vice-president at PNB Gilts.
Traders are finding it hard to call specific levels in this kind of volatility, especially with the West Asia war ongoing and oil prices staying elevated.

Brent crude oil prices rose by $1.87, or 1.73%, to $109.88 a barrel, LSEG data showed.
“We cannot project future levels in such volatile conditions, and we do not know what will happen overnight,” Sharma said. Bonds are also under strain as states sold debt worth nearly ₹1 lakh crore during the week, amid waning investor demand.

Financial institutions are expected to face mark-to-market losses as the benchmark yield has increased more than 30 basis points this quarter, from 6.60% on January 1.

Many dealers no longer expect the yield to fall to the 6.75% level, even if the West Asia war ends, which is the best-case scenario.

The Federal Trade Commission warned four leading payment processors against denying customers access to financial services due to their political or religious views.

The letters, sent by FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson to the chief executives of

Mastercard

MA

-3.30%

decrease; red down pointing triangle, Visa V -3.28%decrease; red down pointing triangle, PayPal PYPL -3.56%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Stripe, cited President Trump’s August executive order on “debanking,” which Ferguson said “makes clear that it is unacceptable to debank law-abiding citizens due to ‘political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.’”