Nasdaq · March 17, 2003
The day the ultimatum came
+3.88%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
The ten months that began when the war did
early in it · 2003-03-11 → 2004-01-26, +69.40% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- The Nasdaq rose 3.88% on the day
- The US president told Iraq's leadership to leave within two days. It was effectively notice that the war would begin
- The announcement fixed when it would start. What markets struggle with is less bad news than an unsettled state
- Oil fell sharply that day, as opinion shifted toward supply not being cut for long
- Cheaper oil lowers company costs and leaves households more to spend. That helps share prices directly
Sources
Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is written from the sources listed above.