US Equity Investors to Stay Glued on Iran War, Nonfarm Payrolls This Week

05:49 AM EST, 03/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity investors will mainly focus on the US- and Israel-led war on Iran and its impact across asset classes and sectors, as well as nonfarm payrolls this week.

* Kuwait's Ministry of Defense said "several" US military aircraft crashed Monday and that "all crews survived," CNN reported. President Donald Trump reportedly said the conflict could last for four weeks.

* West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures jumped 7.7% to $72.11 a barrel early Monday.

* "Crude oil futures gapped massively higher to reflect the concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran," Saxo Bank analysts noted.

* Shares of defense companies such as Lockheed Martin (LMT) , Northrop Grumman (NOC) , and General Dynamics (GD) were up in premarket activity as the conflict in the Middle East expanded with Iran and Iran-backed militias attacking Israel and other countries, according to multiple news outlets.

* Shares of airlines and cruise companies were down in recent premarket activity, including Delta Air Lines (DAL) , United Airlines (UAL), American Airlines (AAL) , as well as Carnival (CCL, CUK), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) , and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) .

* The ICE US Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of the world's major currencies, jumped 0.6% to 98.16 early Monday.

* Apart from nonfarm payrolls and jobless claims, the other macroeconomic data due this week includes the ISM manufacturing and services indexes and retail sales.

* Nonfarm payrolls could inform pricing and timing of the Federal Reserve's next move, according to a note from Scotiabank on Friday. "The effects could ripple through the rates and currencies complexes and risk assets."

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