“The rise in oil prices will create inflation pressure or margin pressure within companies that use oil, oil products or even if you’re building and doing construction,” Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, said in an interview. “Investors are questioning whether or not demand for materials will be strong given higher oil prices that potentially dampen consumer demand and investment and corporate investment,” he said in an interview. At the same time, metals stocks have also pulled back during the war after a record run last year. “They were just trading like risk assets at that point.”However, some stocks in the materials sector have surged during the war. “The market’s still looking through this, expecting the US to prevail and expecting oil prices to drop,” O’Rourke said.

Source: The Edge Markets March 19, 2026 11:54 UTC