The smartest money moves to make as the Iran conflict rattles markets

The smartest money moves to make as the Iran conflict rattles markets The conflict in Iran is raising the “wall of worry” for the stock market, adding another concern for Americans already stressed about the impacts of artificial intelligence, job security and tariff policy. Oil and gas prices surged early on Monday, as did gold. The S&P 500 SPX+0.04% fell more than 1% when the market opened, then recovered, ending the day in positive territory. Continue reading your article witha MarketWatch subscription Venessa Wong is a personal finance reporter for MarketWatch based in New York City. She previously covered business, inequality and culture during her tenure at BuzzFeed News, and reported on the food industry for Bloomberg. Venessa is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and Middlebury College. Follow her on Twitter @venessawong. Copyright © 2026 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved.