Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
5 min of reading 
0 comments 
The largest oil companies, major Wall Street banks, and the defense sector accumulated tens of billions in profit in the first three months of 2026, driven by the war in Iran, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and record trading volume in global financial markets.
According to BBC, the war between the United States and Israel against Iran is redistributing wealth on a planetary scale, and companies operating in the energy, finance, and defense sectors are the biggest beneficiaries of this redistribution. While families around the world face rising living costs and governments deal with budgets pressured by high energy prices, oil giants, investment banks, and arms manufacturers reported record profits in the first quarter of 2026, fueled by price instability, explosive trading volume, and the global rearmament race.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranians interrupted the transit of approximately 20% of the world’s transported oil and gas, triggering a roller coaster of fluctuations in energy markets. This volatility, which for consumers means more expensive gasoline and rising inflation, represented for certain companies the perfect opportunity to multiply gains. The first quarter of 2026 consolidated a clear division: on one side, populations paying the price of war; on the other, corporations tallying profits at historical levels.
Oil and gas: profits that more than doubled
Companies in the oil and gas sector were the first to reap the benefits of the crisis. European giants, in particular, stood out because they maintain specialized commodity trading divisions that thrive in scenarios of strong price fluctuations. BP saw its profit more than double in the first quarter, reaching 3.2 billion dollars, a result the company itself classified as exceptional and attributed directly to the performance of its energy asset buying and selling division.
-
China innovates and now uses bubbles in construction works to prevent dust and noise pollution, with structures up to 50 meters and 20,000 m² that reduce impacts by up to 90% and operate with sensors and advanced ventilation.
-
A Swiss village pays 25,000 francs per adult and 10,000 francs per child for families who agree to live for years in the Alps, but imposes strict rules on age, residency, and property purchase.
-
Professional divers removed approximately 2.4 tons of trash hidden on the seabed of Balneário Camboriú (SC) between 2022 and 2026. The cleaning operation on the rocky shores is a partnership between the city hall, Ambiental, and Univali.
-
Rubens Ometto transformed sugarcane into ethanol, became a billionaire, took Cosan from Shell gas stations to iron ore by buying a port in Maranhão for R$ 720 million, and built a vertical farm that few associated with the Brazilian energy and logistics empire.
Shell surpassed analysts’ projections and reported a profit of 6.92 billion dollars in the same period. TotalEnergies, another giant in the sector, registered a jump of almost one-third in earnings, reaching 5.4 billion dollars, driven by volatility in oil and energy markets. Meanwhile, American companies ExxonMobil and Chevron saw a drop in earnings compared to the previous year, reflecting the interruption in supply from the Middle East, but still exceeded market expectations and project profit growth throughout 2026, with barrel prices still significantly above pre-war levels.
Wall Street banks and record trading volume
If oil was the fuel of the crisis, trading was the engine that transformed volatility into profit for major global banks. JP Morgan’s trading revenue reached a record 11.6 billion dollars, a result that helped the bank record the second-highest quarterly profit in its entire history. The scenario of uncertainty caused by the war in Iran created an intense flow of financial operations: investors rushed to sell higher-risk stocks and bonds and reallocate capital into assets considered safer.
The performance was not limited to JP Morgan. The six largest banks in the United States, a group that includes Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo, together accumulated 47.7 billion dollars in profit in the first three months of 2026. The companies that benefited most within this group were Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, according to Wealth Club’s chief investment strategist, Susannah Streeter. For her, the volatility unleashed by the war generated a peak in trading where some investors sold positions out of fear of conflict escalation, while others bought undervalued assets betting on recovery, and both movements fueled bank revenues.
Defense sector: record orders and restocking inventories
Armed conflict generates immediate demand for military equipment, and defense companies are direct beneficiaries of this dynamic. Emily Sawicz, senior analyst at RMS UK consultancy, highlights that the war reinforced gaps in air defense capabilities and accelerated investments in anti-missile systems, anti-drone equipment, and weaponry across Europe and the United States. Governments need to replenish weapon stockpiles consumed by the conflict, and this necessity translates into billions in orders for manufacturers.
BAE Systems, which produces components for F-35 fighter jets, stated that it expects strong sales and profit growth in 2026, citing increasing global security threats as a driver of demand. The three largest suppliers in the sector in the United States, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, ended the first quarter with record backlogs in order delivery, a sign that defense companies face more demand than they can meet. Despite this, sector stocks have declined since mid-March amid fears that prices may be overvalued after consecutive years of sharp increases.
Renewable energy: the unexpected boost from the war
The war in Iran produced a side effect few anticipated: it accelerated interest in renewable energy sources. According to Streeter, the conflict highlighted the need to diversify the energy matrix and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, which boosted investments in the green sector, including in the United States, where the Trump administration actively promoted the use of fossil fuels with the slogan “drill, baby, drill”.
Companies in the renewable sector responded with concrete numbers. NextEra Energy, from Florida, saw its shares appreciate 17% year-to-date. Danish companies Vestas and Orsted, global leaders in wind energy, reported increased profits. In the UK, Octopus Energy stated that the war brought a huge boost to the sale of solar panels and heat pumps, with a 50% growth in solar panel sales since the end of February. Rising gasoline prices also increased demand for electric vehicles, and Chinese manufacturers are capturing a good portion of this growing market, demonstrating that companies betting on clean energy found in the crisis a window of acceleration that previously seemed distant.
And you, what do you think about companies reporting record profits while families pay the cost of war? Should financial trading have limits in times of conflict, or does the oil and energy market simply follow its own rules? Leave your comment and say whether the war in Iran is accelerating or delaying the global energy transition.
Be the first to react!