Stocks Rally, Oil Steadies as US Weighs End to War: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied while oil held steady after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had signaled he was willing to end the US military campaign against Iran.
S&P 500 futures advanced 0.8%, trimming losses after a selloff that left the benchmark on course for its worst month since 2022. Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.6%. Brent traded below $107 a barrel. Treasuries extended their rebound, with the two-year yield dropping one basis point to 3.82%.
The monthlong war in the Middle East has roiled markets as Iran responded to US and Israeli attacks with a near-total blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for about a fifth of global crude output. The disruption has sent Brent surging nearly 50%, stoking fears of an inflationary spiral with US gasoline prices above $4 a gallon for the first time since August 2022.
While the report lifted optimism for an imminent end to hostilities, the status of the strait remains unresolved. The WSJ reported that Trump told aides that the US should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade.
An Iranian drone strike on a fully laden Kuwaiti oil tanker off Dubai on Tuesday highlighted the heightened state of tensions.
“One can’t exclude a swift resolution, but it won’t mean going back exactly to where we were in February,” said Kevin Thozet, a member of the investment committee at Carmignac. “Investors are seeing the glass half-full. During the past 15 years or so, buying the dip has been absolutely key.”
In Asia, a slump in chipmakers fueled stock losses after Monday’s rout in US-listed peers. South Korea’s Kospi index slid 4.3%, extending its drop from a February high to 20%. SK Hynix Inc. slumped more than 7%.
Corporate News:
Unilever Plc said talks to sell most of its food business to McCormick & Co. are advanced and a final deal could be announced later on Tuesday in a historic move that will transform both companies. A company overseen by a prominent Abu Dhabi royal has agreed to buy a US gas infrastructure firm for $2.25 billion. Syngenta Group, the Chinese-owned seed and pesticide giant that’s planning a potential Hong Kong listing, increased profits as it focused on higher-margin businesses. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% as of 9:56 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.8% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.4% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 1.3% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1470 The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.60 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9113 per dollar The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3213 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $66,735.63 Ether rose 0.8% to $2,039.07 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.32% Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.02% Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.91% Commodities
Brent crude fell 0.4% to $106.96 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.3% to $4,567.98 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
(A previous version of the story removed an incorrect reference that the US had achieved its military objectives.)
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