'Let's take them back to the stone age': stocks down, oil at $107 after Trump's statement on Iran

Stocks and commodity markets suffered a sharp pullback due to heightened fears of war in Iran: stocks plummeted, while oil rose in price after a two-day slump. Investors were spoiled by US President Donald Trump's address to the nation, which dashed hopes for a quick resolution to the Middle East crisis.

Immediately after Trump's speech, investors returned to sell-off almost all assets, except for the U.S. dollar, and drove oil prices up, Reuters reports. The cost of June futures for Mark Brent crude oil (near-month delivery) jumped by nearly 7% to $108.15 per barrel at its highest during trading, at $107 at the time of publication. Futures on U.S. stocks fell by 1%, on European stocks - by more than 1.5%.

Asian stocks came under heavy pressure, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 2.3% and South Korea's Kospi plummeting 4.2%. MSCI's broad index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan fell by more than 2%, with almost all Asian stock exchanges going into the red zone.

"I can tell you tonight that we are on track to fulfill all of Ma's military objectives soon, very soon. We will hit them (Iran. - Oninvest) extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to take them back to the Stone Age where they belong," Trump said, making it clear that the war will last a few more weeks.

During the 19-minute speech, the U.S. leader overlooked a number of unresolved issues. In particular, the status of Iranian enriched uranium and unimpeded access to the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil supplies, which Iran has effectively blocked since the outbreak of the war, according to Reuters.

"We didn't get any additional certainty or clarity from this address on the timing [of the end of the Iran war], which is exactly what the market has been waiting for," said John Vitaar, senior portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management in Singapore. - The fact that we are looking at another two to three weeks of fighting, a ground operation has not been ruled out, and threats of infrastructure strikes have been reiterated, will force the market back into a defensive posture, especially ahead of the long weekend."

Before addressing the nation, Trump said that Iran's president had asked for a ceasefire. However, the U.S. leader refused, calling the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz the main condition. Tehran called the claim "false and baseless," and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the strait would not be opened because of Trump's "ridiculous antics."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor