US Equity Indexes Fall This Week Amid Higher Oil Prices, Unemployment Rate

04:45 PM EST, 03/06/2026 (MT Newswires) -- * US equity indexes fell this week as oil prices continued to rise due to energy disruption fears and surprise February jobs data.

* The S&P 500 closed at 6,740.02 on Friday versus 6,878.88 a week ago. The Nasdaq Composite stood at 22,387.67, compared with 22,668.21 a week earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 47,501.55, versus 48,977.92 at the end of last week.

*Oil prices surged above $90 per barrel on Friday after Qatar's energy minister forecast that the war on Iran would compel Gulf exporters to halt production in days and warned it could boost prices to $150 a barrel, per the Financial Times.

*The Baker Hughes oil rig count in the US for the week ended March 6 rose to 551 from 550 in the week prior. Total rig count in North America declined to 756 from 764 in the week earlier.

*US initial jobless claims stayed at 213,000 for the week ended Feb. 28 after an upward revision in the week earlier, compared with forecasts of 215,000 by analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

*Unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in February, higher than the 4.3% expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Retail sales for January fell 0.2% compared with a 0.4% decline forecast by analysts.

*In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index declined to 52.4 in February from 52.6 in January, versus forecasts of 51.5 in a survey of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

*The S&P Global US manufacturing index for February was revised higher to 51.6 from the flash reading of 51.2, compared with expectations for 51.4 in a Bloomberg survey. The February index remains below the 52.4 reading in January.

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