Stocks Bounce Back as "Fear Gauge" Takes a Breather

A welcome reprieve from Friday's steep drop, a pullback in oil and treasury yields helped boost markets to start the week. Investors are also hopeful there's progress between the U.S. and allies in building a coalition to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 snapped four-day losing streaks, the latter logging its best session since Feb. 6. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also sported a healthy win, with every single Magnificent Seven stock finishing in the black. Elsewhere, Wall Street's 'fear gauge,' the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), marked its worst session in a week.

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Contrarians: buy this utility stock.
• Options traders are swarming Nvidia stock for GTC week.
• Plus, META making moves; pre-earnings MU buzz; and making your bracket picks.

5 Things to Know Today

1. A settlement payment will be made by Bank of America (BAC) after the finance firm was accused of aiding Jeffery Epstein. (Bloomberg)
2. Visual effects company MotionVFX has been purchased by Apple (AAPL). (CNBC)
3. Meta Platforms stock is back in headlines again.
4. Pre-earnings buzz pushed this chip behemoth higher.
5. March Madness has arrived, but are you ready for market madness?

Crude, Gold Pull Back From Recent Gains

Oil prices continued to cool, though President Donald Trump expressed frustration from countries unwilling to join his Hormuz escort coalition. April-dated West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude shed 5.3% to close at $100.21 per barrel for the day.

A softening U.S. greenback alongside stabilizing inflation fears sent gold futures inching lower. April-dated gold futures fell 1.1% to settle at $5,004.90 an ounce.