Iran war, US inflation, Oracle report: what investors need to know this week

The week began with a sharp jump in oil prices and a collapse on Asian stock exchanges - the conflict between the U.S. and Iran is dragging on, and investors are increasingly concerned about the destabilization of the global economy. Market attention will continue to be focused on events in the Middle East, writes The Wall Street Journal.

On Monday morning, March 9, oil futures soared more than 25% on the back of production cuts by several key Middle East producers due to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The jump was the fastest since April 2020 and oil prices hit their highest since June 2022, according to Trading Economics. By the time this text was published, the rise had slowed to around 21-22%.

Iran on Monday night announced the name of the country's new supreme leader - the successor to the assassinated Ali Khamenei was his son Mojtaba. Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said that the new head of Iran "won't last long" unless Tehran first gets the White House's approval. Trump called Mojtaba Khamenei a "lowlife" and said he intends to personally participate in the selection of the new Iranian leader.

The surge in oil and gas prices has heightened inflation fears and forced investors to radically revise their expectations of interest rate cuts. Before the war, traders had fully pledged in prices to reduce the rate by a quarter of a percentage point by July. Now these expectations have been pushed back to September, Bloomberg writes . In this context, market participants this week will closely follow the data on inflation in the U.S., especially after the February statistics on the U.S. labor market was unexpectedly weak, says WSJ.

In the corporate sector, the main event of the week should be the publication of Oracle's financial statements. It will give the market another opportunity to assess the prospects for investment in the AI sector after Nvidia's financial results were better than forecasts but failed to impress investors, Yahoo Finance writes.

On Monday, March 9, Chinese authorities reported that the country's annual inflation rate jumped in February above expectations to 1.3% from 0.2% recorded in January, becoming the highest since January 2023. The growth largely reflects the impact of the Chinese New Year, which fell in mid-February, Trading Economics noted.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Casey's General Stores will disclose quarterly earnings on Monday.

On Tuesday, March 10, the U.S. National Federation of Independent Business will release its Small Business Optimism Index for February.

Oracle, Hugo Boss, NIO and Volkswagen will report earnings for the quarter.

On Wednesday, March 11, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February. The consensus forecast calls for a 2.5% year-over-year increase. Inflation excluding food and energy prices (core CPI) is expected to rise 1.4%. Compared to January, both indicators should add 0.3%, suggests Barron's.

Rheinmetall, Porsche and Campbell Soup will publish financial reports.

On Thursday, March 12, Adobe, BMW, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, Lennar, Dick's Sporting Goods and Li Auto will disclose quarterly results.

On Friday, March 13, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the Fed's preferred inflation indicator, the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index for January. Economists on average forecast a 2.9% annualized increase, the same as in December. The BEA will also present the second growth estimate for the world's largest economy for the fourth quarter of 2025.

At the same time, the BLS will release the U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report for January. According to the consensus forecast, there were 6.68 million job openings as of the last business day of January - 130,000 more than in December.

Eurostat will reveal statistics on industrial production in the eurozone for January. HSBC forecasts recovery of the index after the December decline. Analysts of the bank estimated January growth of 0.6% compared to the previous month and attribute such dynamics to a moderate economic recovery in Germany.

There are no significant corporate reports scheduled for March 13.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor