Breakfast News: Markets Mauled By Mideast Conflict

Breakfast News: Markets Mauled By Mideast Conflict

March 2, 2026

Source: Image created by Jester AI.

1. Futures Down, Oil Up, as Iran Conflict Spreads

Futures suffered as the Iran conflict moved into its third day, and appears to be escalating. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures dipped 1% and 1.4% respectively in morning trading. The S&P 500 declined 0.44% over the past week to conclude a 0.87% February fall. The Nasdaq – hit by Nvidia’s (NVDA +3.04%) five-day drop of 6.7% – lost 0.95% during the week, down 3.4% over the last month.

• Oil prices highest since 2025 “12-day war”: Oil soared as strikes on several tankers effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s supply typically passes daily. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached over $73 this morning, with Brent Crude approaching $80.
• “Impacted by objects that struck the data center”: Amazon (AMZN 0.73%) spoke of unidentified objects striking a facility in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire. Amazon Web Services suffered a disruption as a result, Bloomberg reported.

2. BRK’s Abel Vows Continuity as Profits Slip

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB 4.67%) reported its final quarter under the leadership of Warren Buffett on Saturday. Revenue and earnings per share – impacted by lower underwriting and interest income – declined by 0.6% and 2.5% year over year (YoY) respectively, but both beat Wall Street expectations. Earnings from all businesses outside of railroad, energy, and insurance rose 3%.

• “Berkshire’s cash stockpile declined slightly to about $373 billion, compared with $381.6 billion at the end of the third quarter”: Berkshire didn’t buy back any shares in the period, though Fool contributing analyst Matt Frankel noted the company can “repurchase shares when new CEO Greg Abel believes they are undervalued.”
• “Our balance sheet is a strategic asset to be deployed at the right time”: The occasion marked Greg Abel’s first annual letter to shareholders, in which he added Berkshire can “act decisively, invest when others are tentative or fearful, and stand firm when financial storms roll through.” Not much has changed.

3. The Pick of the Week’s Rule Breakers earnings

• MongoDB (MDB 0.85%) will report fourth-quarter earnings after today’s closing bell. The company’s cloud database business helped push revenue and earnings further in Q3, though some softening in margins needs watching.
• CrowdStrike (CRWD +3.46%) is lined up for Q4 earnings Tuesday. The cybersecurity stock bounced back in 2025, retaining 97% of its customers after the previous year’s global outage. CrowdStrike is beating the S&P 500 by 58% since last being recommended in Stock Advisor by team Hidden Gems in October 2023.
• Veeva (VEEV 0.31%) – ranked 8 on RB for its ability to beat the market over 5 years – will post Q4 results Wednesday. It follows the split from Salesforce (CRM 0.95%) to use Veeva’s own Vault CRM proprietary platform – which was hosting 115 customers by the end of Q3.

4. Stock Advisor Earnings You Won’t Want to Miss

• Okta (OKTA +2.00%) posted healthy gains in cash flow and profitability in Q3, as the identity security specialist’s large customer growth continued. Management targets include 11% annual revenue growth, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 26%. Final quarter results for fiscal 2025 are due Wednesday.
• On Holding (ONON +0.73%) reports Q4 Tuesday, as the sports products distributor aims to launch a range of new products during the current year – and remains on track to beat full-year 2025 growth targets
• Costco (COST 0.71%) brings some retail sector news Thursday in the form of Q2 earnings. It follows an 11.4% YoY EPS rise in the previous quarter, helped by a 14% rise in membership fee income over the same quarter last year.

5. Your Take

Do you follow The Motley Fool’s advice/recs, but still retain an investment manager [and why]?

Discuss with friends and family, or become a member to hear what your fellow Fools are saying!