Good morning. Just as companies were adjusting to tariffs, the Iran conflict has delivered a fresh energy shock, potentially reviving inflation risks and squeezing margins.
On Sunday evening, as investors reacted to the U.S.–Israeli bombardment of Iran, U.S. stock futures pointed to a risk-off trade. The selloff followed President Donald Trump’s warning that more casualties are likely from Operation Epic Fury. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 353 points, or 0.72%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.68%, and Nasdaq futures lost 0.79%, Fortune’s Jason Ma and Amanda Gerut reported.
Oil moved even faster. U.S. crude jumped 5.6% to $70.77 a barrel, while Brent gained 5.9% to $77.15 after earlier spiking more than 8%.
For corporate leaders, the issue is not just the immediate market reaction. It is the layering of shocks. Tariffs were already raising costs and complicating planning assumptions. Now an energy supply scare adds a second channel of pressure, through fuel, freight, and input prices, just as inflation appeared to be stabilizing.
Policy uncertainty compounds the problem. The Supreme Court struck down one set of Trump-era tariffs, but analysts expect the administration to reroute them through other statutes, keeping trade policy unpredictable and forcing companies to model multiple tariff paths.
Finance teams are left planning for several scenarios at once. And war risk in the Gulf makes any reconfigured supply chains potentially more fragile.
McKinsey’s recent survey of 100 companies underscores how exposed corporate supply chains remain. Eighty-two percent of respondents said tariffs are affecting their operations, with 20% to 40% of supply chain activity impacted. Thirty-nine percent reported higher supplier and material costs, while 30% saw weaker customer demand. Supply chains with a U.S. connection were most vulnerable, with 70% of respondents saying tariff impacts on U.S. demand were greater than or equal to effects elsewhere.
For CFOs, agility has become standard operating procedure. But the compounding nature of trade friction and geopolitical risk is forcing a deeper shift—from short-term adjustments to structural resilience that encompasses both people and policies.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Mike Eastwood, CFO of Thomson Reuters (TSX/Nasdaq: TRI), a global content and technology company, will retire from the role following a planned transition. Gary E. Bischoping Jr. will join the company on April 13 and succeed Eastwood as CFO on May 8. Bischoping brings more than 30 years of experience; his most recent role was as a partner at Hellman & Friedman, where he led the firm’s finance center of excellence. Previously, he held CFO roles at Finastra and Varian Medical Systems and spent more than 17 years at Dell Technologies in senior finance leadership positions, including divisional CFO and treasurer. Eastwood will become chairman of the board of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, succeeding Jim Smith, who previously served as president and CEO of Thomson Reuters.
Gena Wang was appointed CFO of Argo Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Argo Biopharma), effective March 1. Wang joins Argo Biopharma from Barclays, where she served as managing director, senior equity research analyst in the biotechnology sector. Wang brings nearly 20 years of Wall Street sell-side experience and has conducted in-depth research on novel therapies, with a focus on RNA therapies, gene and cell therapies, and emerging modalities in rare diseases and oncology.
Big Deal
Mercer has released its Global Talent Trends 2026 report, based on a survey of approximately 12,000 respondents (C-suite executives, HR leaders, investors and employees). Regarding a key U.S. C-Suite-specific finding, it points to an executive cohort seeking to increase AI fluency and business agility.
Sixty-three percent of C-suite leaders said redesigning work to incorporate AI and automation is a top 2026 people priority. Meanwhile, 60% of investors are more likely to invest in organizations with embedded and integrated AI throughout the workforce. And 72% of investors surveyed agree that companies that embrace the integration of both human and AI capabilities are positioned to gain a competitive advantage.
Going deeper
"Your grandparents are the reason the U.S. isn’t in a recession right now. That won’t last forever" is a Fortune article by Eleanor Pringle.
Pringle writes: "The U.S. economy has a love-hate relationship with its aging population. In the long term, an older population is a headache: It means a shrinking labor pool leading to slower growth, and increased social care costs. On the other hand, the United States’s older generations are the ones—directly or indirectly—keeping the economy out of a recession at the present moment." You can read more here.
Overheard
"What I’ve learned after nearly three decades of Double Good is that leadership longevity isn’t about holding on. It’s about letting go at the right moments and holding tight to the right purpose."
—Tim Heitmann, founder and CEO of Double Good, writes in a Fortune opinion piece titled, "Here’s how to build something that lasts, from the founder of a $300 million bootstrapped company that’s been growing for 28 years straight."
