5 Things to Watch on
March 9, 2026

U.S. stocks are down more than -1% in premarket trading, while Japanese equities cratered more than -5%, as the war in Iran rages on. What started as cautious optimism has curdled into something far grimmer; investors are now pricing in a prolonged supply shock that could choke growth while reigniting inflation, a stagflationary cocktail markets are only beginning to digest. The selloff deepened after President Trump threatened to strike previously off-limits Iranian targets, Tehran vowed to fight on, and crude spiked as much as +29%, its biggest swing in nearly six years. Trump's remark that $100 oil was "a very small price to pay" for peace killed any hope of a quick resolution.

Nasdaq (NDAQ) announced a partnership with crypto exchange Kraken to offer tokenized public company stocks, with a framework launching in early 2027 that grants token holders the same governance rights as traditional shareholders. The move builds on NDAQ's September SEC filing and positions it alongside NYSE and major asset managers accelerating into tokenization amid the Trump administration's supportive stance on digital assets.

AI data center startup Nscale raised $2B in a Series C led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, with participation from Nvidia (NVDA), Citadel, Point72 and others, valuing the company at $14.6B. The raise brings total funding to over $4.5B in the past year, with Nscale eyeing an IPO and previously inking a $14B Microsoft (MSFT) partnership and a Stargate-branded data center deal with OpenAI in Norway.

Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) is surging in premarket trading, up more than +50%, after news that Novo Nordisk (NVO) plans to sell its obesity drugs through the telehealth platform. The news is a remarkable turnaround given that a similar deal collapsed in June over HIMS' refusal to drop lower-cost compounded versions of semaglutide, which ultimately led to NVO filing a patent infringement lawsuit against the company.

Lamb Weston (LW) shares are down slightly after Starboard Value revealed a sizable stake and pushed management to target at least $500M in annual savings, double the company's own $250M goal. LW has been under pressure after over-expanding capacity and raising prices too aggressively, with shares down -10% over the past 12 months. Starboard is also pushing for a sale of LW's Asia-Pacific operations, arguing international remains challenged while the North American business is best-in-class.