Trump instructed to 'destroy' ships spreading mines in Strait of Hormuz Stocks fell

US President Donald Trump - shortly before the start of the April 23 trading session on the US markets - ordered the US military to "shoot and destroy" any boats that plant mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Also against this background, as well as - due to uncertainty about the de-escalation of the situation in the Middle East - the main U.S. stock indices opened with a decline, Reuters notes.

- America's broad index of stocks, the S&P 500, fell 0.27% in the first minutes of trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.41% and the Dow Jones blue-chip index fell 0.54%.

- June Brent crude contracts, which jumped to $106.15 a barrel at their high on April 23 - following reports of the US interception of Iranian supertankers in the Strait of Hormuz - are trading at $102.51 a barrel at the time of publication. North American WTI with delivery next month in turn costs $93.63. In general, oil quotations show a slight increase - by 0.55% and 0.66% respectively - relative to the previous closing level.

- The VIX Volatility Index, also known as the "Wall Street Fear Index" is also up 1.8% to 19.27 points - any value above 20 indicates increased volatility in the market.

- Spot gold is down 0.22% at $4729.6 an ounce.

Minutes before the U.S. trading session opened on April 23, Trump wrote on the social media network TruthSocial that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to open fire on any vessels laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. "I have ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot and destroy any vessels <...> that plant mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz - no matter how small [those vessels] may be," the U.S. president said, emphasizing that there should be "no hesitation" on the matter." The Strait of Hormuz will remain "'tightly closed' until Iran is ready to make a deal," Trump reiterated.

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