(March 6): A prolonged Iran war is a risk to the bank-stock powered rallies in Japan and Europe as investors abandon these markets in favor of exposure to oil and the US dollar, Bank of America’s Michael Hartnett said. It’s a scenario that has already started playing out since the US and Israel launched their attacks against Iran and as the conflict has spread. European stocks are on course for their worst weekly drop since last April’s tariff turmoil and the same is true of Japan’s Nikkei 225 index. Volatile trading in Korean equities saw the Kospi index notch both a record decline and the biggest gain since 2008. The war has entered a seventh day, with investors focused on the near-total halt to energy shipments through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Source: The Edge Markets March 06, 2026 11:10 UTC