Asian stocks rebounded from Monday's selloff, and crude oil fell, as President Donald Trump signaled the Iran war may be ending soon, helping Wall Street finish its session on a bullish note. Oil dropped as much as 10%.
Stocks jumped in Japan, South Korea and Australia, helping the broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index rise 1.7%. The S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq 100 Index both climbed on Monday and technology shares rallied.
The optimistic shift came as Trump said the war with Iran would resolve “very soon.” The president said that he did not believe the conflict would be over this week, but insisted the operation was ahead of schedule. The US military objectives could be described as “pretty well complete,” Trump said.
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West Texas Intermediate crude was down around 7% on Tuesday, having started paring its jump during the New York session on Trump's comments. On Monday, the commodity had surged to as high as $119.48 a barrel. Other markets also reversed their moves. Yields on the 10-year Treasury halted a five-day increase and the dollar weakened in the New York session.
The whipsaw session underscored how sensitive markets remain to every twist in the Middle East conflict, with a single headline enough to reverse billions of dollars in losses. Volatility shows no signs of letting up as investors weigh a fast-shifting geopolitical conflict with no clear trading playbook.
“What we're seeing now is more of a relief rally after an extreme risk-off episode, rather than a genuine shift back into a full risk-on environment,” said Dilin Wu, a research strategist at Pepperstone Group.
Even so, equity-index futures on US benchmarks slipped in early Asian trading, signaling the rebound may not hold.
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Crude had a volatile session on Monday that saw the commodity swing in the widest range since prices briefly turned negative during the depths of the pandemic.
Oil surged toward $120 a barrel early Monday before pulling back as the world's largest economies considered an effort to release emergency oil reserves.
Still, the vital Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, which has led to major producers in the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, curtailing output.
Group of Seven finance ministers said they were ready to take any steps needed to support energy supply, including releasing strategic oil reserves — although the group isn't at the point of doing so yet. Meantime, Trump is expected to review a set of options to tame oil prices, including restricting US exports and waiving some federal taxes, Reuters reported.
“We expect markets to stay very short-term focused, volatile and headline-driven as the conflict plays out this week,” said Carol Schleif at BMO Private Wealth.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% as of 9:05 a.m. Tokyo time
- Hang Seng futures rose 0.4%
- Japan's Topix rose 2%
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.4%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1614
- The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 157.91 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8929 per dollar
- The Australian dollar fell 0.1% to $0.7066
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $68,449.95
- Ether fell 1.6% to $1,994.27
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.11%
- Australia's 10-year yield declined 10 basis points to 4.84%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7% to $88.11 a barrel
- Spot gold was little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
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