Markets appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s insistence that the Iran war will end soon.
US stocks on Thursday had their worst day since the conflict broke out, while oil prices rose along with US bond yields.
The rout came even as Trump said Iran is “begging” to make a deal, but diplomatic progress “seems to be sketchy at best,” one strategist said. Markets have whipsawed over Trump’s conflicting signals of deescalation and aggression toward Tehran; traders are “trying to price two competing paths at once,” an analyst noted.
Trump on Thursday said the market reaction wasn’t as severe as he expected, hours before he extended the pause on striking Iranian energy plants.