Oil Prices Today: WTI Settles Above $94, S&P 500 Reverses Losses as Trump Says War "Very Complete"
Crude oil prices delivered one of the most volatile single trading sessions in market history on Monday, March 10, as Wall Street whipsawed from deep losses to a late-session recovery after President Donald Trump told CBS the Iran military operation is further ahead than its original timeline — sending crude retreating sharply from triple-digit territory.
Crude Oil Price Today: WTI Settles at $94, Brent Near $98 After Wild Intraday Swings
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4% to settle above $94 a barrel after briefly topping $119 per barrel in overnight trading Sunday, while Brent crude futures trimmed their gains to close more than 6% higher above $98 per barrel.
US crude dropped back to around $87 in late hours after Trump told CBS the conflict is "very complete, pretty much" and the military operation is "very far" ahead of its initial four-to-five-week timeframe — a statement that single-handedly reversed both oil and equity market losses.
WTI crude opened Tuesday's session at $101.10. Technical indicators and moving averages are currently signaling a strong buy on crude oil futures, with the next settlement date set for March 20, 2026.
S&P 500 Futures and Dow Stage Dramatic Late Reversal
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% on Monday, erasing an intraday loss of over 1.5% for the first time since April. Ten-year Treasury yields halted a five-day increase as risk sentiment improved through the final hour of New York trading.
The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq rebounded on Monday with all three major averages closing firmly in green territory, reversing course in the last hour of trading after Trump's CBS comments hit the wires.
Asia-Pacific markets had moderated their earlier rout after Saudi Arabia reportedly offered roughly 4.6 million barrels via a pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea — a move that briefly cooled Brent to $107.71 and WTI to $103.47 before further selling resumed.
Brent Crude Oil Price at $119 Overnight: How We Got Here
WTI crude surged from $66 per barrel on February 20, 2026 to above $100 after the US-Israel joint strikes on Iran on February 28. US crude oil surged roughly 35% last week in its biggest gain in futures trading history dating back to 1983.
President Trump called rising oil prices a "very small price to pay," writing on Truth Social that short-term oil prices would drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, insisting only fools would think differently.
The VIX spiked nearly 50% across the past week, sitting at $29.49 as of Monday. The United States Oil Fund gained 32.73% over the past week alone. Prediction markets give 63% odds that gas hits $4.50 a gallon by the end of March 2026.
Gas Prices Heading for $4 Per Gallon by Week's End
Retail gasoline prices will likely plateau and hit $4 per gallon by the end of this week, according to OPIS chief oil analyst Denton Cinquegrana. The national average for regular gasoline stood at $3.478 a gallon on Monday per the American Automobile Association — up 16% in just one week.
Cinquegrana told CNBC crude oil trading has been some of the most active he has seen in over 25 years, with massive volume across every benchmark and product market simultaneously.
G7 Watches Closely as Strategic Reserve Release Decision Looms
G7 finance ministers held a virtual meeting Monday and agreed to monitor the situation closely, saying they are ready to take all necessary measures including using strategic reserves to stabilize the market — but France confirmed the group would not yet collectively tap reserves, stopping short of an immediate coordinated release.
Investors will be watching Wednesday's Consumer Price Index and Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditures data closely, though neither report will yet fully capture the dramatic impact of the past week's oil price surge on American consumers.
