ORLANDO, Florida, March 30 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and

Nasdaq hit seven-month lows and bond yields fell on Monday as

the Iran war entered its fifth week, with investors increasingly

spooked by growth fears over inflation concerns even though oil

prices rose further above $100 a barrel.

In my column today I look at why the spike in market-based

borrowing costs since the Iran war broke out could not have come

at a worse time for "Big Tech", which is increasingly turning to

debt to finance its unprecedented AI investment binge.

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I

recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets

today.

1. Trump again warns Iran to open Strait of Hormuz

2. Powell says Fed can "wait and see" how war affects

inflation

3. Fed's faith in anchored inflation expectations may be

coming under stress

4. Iran war volatility strains trading in world's

biggest markets

5. Japan steps up yen intervention threats, signals

rate-hike chance

Today's Key Market Moves

* STOCKS: Asia slumps - Japan -3% - but Europe rises,

with STOXX 600 +1% and Britain's FTSE 100 +1.6%. Wall Street

mostly lower - Nasdaq and S&P 500 lowest since August.

* SECTORS/SHARES: Only three of 11 sectors in the S&P

500 fall, but their weight carries - tech -1.5%, industrials

-1.6%, energy -0.9%. Sysco -15%, Micron Technology -10%.

* FX: Dollar rises to highest since May last year. Euro

slides on growth fears, yen rebounds on intervention warnings.

* BONDS: U.S. yields down 7-9 bps. 2s/10s curve steepens

for a second day to 53 bps, the steepest in two weeks.

* COMMODITIES/METALS: Brent +1% and WTI +4%, gold +0.5%,

LME aluminum jumps 4%.

Today's Talking Points

* No quarter given

The first quarter draws to a close on Tuesday, and it has

been a wild ride. Brent crude oil is up 85%, its biggest rise

since 1990; the U.S. "Magnificent 7" megacaps are down 17%,

meaning they've lost almost 20% from the October high and are

now close to a bear market; gold is still up despite March being

its second-worst month in over 40 years.

In some ways, markets have been remarkably calm in light of

the damage done to the global energy complex. 17% of Qatar's gas

capacity is offline; 20% of global oil and gas flows are choked

off by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz; several Middle East

countries, including Saudi Arabia, have shut energy production

fields or refineries. Maybe markets have been too calm.

* A "good place"?

Where is monetary policy, the economy, labor market or

bilateral trade relations if not in a "good place"? It seems to

be officials' favorite phrase, with European Central Bank

President Christine Lagarde virtually turning it into a policy

communications signal last year.

On Monday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said U.S. policy is in a

"good place", and officials can "wait and see" how the energy

and supply shocks affect both sides of the bank's dual mandate.

Powell was one of the first officials to coin the phrase in

January last year, a time when some might argue the economy

actually was in a "good place".

* The art of the deal

Despite rising borrowing costs, heightened uncertainty and

increased market volatility sparked by the Iran war, the flow of

multi-billion-dollar deals and M&A activity has not stopped. On

Monday, Sysco said it would buy catering supplier Jetro

Restaurant Depot in a $29  billion deal.

Unilever is in talks to sell its foods business to McCormick

& Company in a deal that would be worth over $30 billion, and

earlier this month a consortium led by BlackRock's Global

Infrastructure Partners and Sweden's EQT AB bought U.S. power

company AES Corp for $33.4 billion. Deals are still being done.

What could move markets tomorrow?

* Developments in the Middle East

* Energy market moves

* Reserve Bank of Australia publishes minutes of March

meeting

* Japan retail sales (February)

* Japan unemployment (February)

* Japan industrial production (February)

* Japan Tokyo CPI inflation (March)

* China "official" PMIs (March)

* India trade, current account (Q4)

* Germany retail sales (February)

* Germany unemployment (March)

* Euro zone inflation (March, flash estimate)

* European Central Bank board member Patrick Montagner

speaks

* UK GDP (Q4)

* U.S. house prices (January)

* U.S. consumer confidence (March)

* U.S. Chicago PMI (March)

* U.S. "JOLTS" job openings (February)

* U.S. Federal Reserve officials scheduled to speak include

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Kansas City Fed President

Jeffrey Schmid, Governor Michael Barr, Vice Chair for

Supervision Michelle Bowman

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