The Iran War Just Triggered a Bigger Energy Shock Than the 1970s Oil Crisis. What It Means for Your Portfolio.

1 hour ago 1

Jeremy Bowman, The Motley Fool

Sat, March 21, 2026 astatine 10:50 AM CDT 3 min read

The enforcement manager of the International Energy Agency didn't mince words erstwhile helium described the interaction of the Iran warfare connected the planetary vigor market. Speaking to the Financial Times, Faith Birol called the struggle "the top planetary vigor information menace successful history."

Birol observed that adjacent if the warfare ended soon, restoring mislaid accumulation is apt to instrumentality months. In different words, the lawsuit is apt to roil planetary markets for a agelong time, and the externalities are numerous.

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Let's instrumentality a look astatine immoderate of the banal winners and losers from the warfare and its interaction connected the vigor market.

A graphic showing lipid  prices rising.

Image source: Getty Images.
  • Asian stocks: Asian markets similar Japan and South Korea are highly babelike connected lipid and state coming retired of the Persian Gulf, truthful they're importantly impacted by rising prices and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. Stocks successful some those countries person fallen sharply arsenic well, and are apt to conflict arsenic agelong arsenic the situation endures. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEMKT: EWY) is down 17% since the warfare broke out.

  • Cyclical (non-commodity) stocks: Cyclical stocks person besides been deed hard by the war, arsenic it's raised the hazard of ostentation and a recession. Industrials, successful particularly, person tumbled arsenic galore of those stocks are delicate to higher substance prices either for proscription oregon to run dense machinery. Additionally, a weaker system could propulsion their customers to walk less. Similarly, the fiscal assemblage fell backmost by a fewer points, and discretionary stocks person fallen nealry 10%.

There are intelligibly much losers than winners from the war, but determination are immoderate winners.

  • Energy stocks: This mightiness beryllium obvious, but vigor stocks are intelligibly benefiting from the spike successful lipid and state prices. It's not conscionable lipid producers that are seeing gains. One of the best-performing stocks has been Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG), an exporter of liquid earthy state (LNG), which is up astir 20% since the commencement of the warfare successful portion owed to harm to LNG infrastructure successful the region.

  • Commodity stocks: Other commodity stocks person besides performed well, benefiting from higher prices. Fertilizer prices, for example, person spiked, pushing stocks similar CF Industries (NYSE: CF) higher.

It whitethorn look tempting to displacement your portfolio into vigor and commodity stocks, but there's inactive a batch of uncertainty successful the war, and the dynamics that person pushed those stocks up could reverse. Over the past fewer weeks, stocks person been volatile successful effect to changing quality retired of Iran.

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