Oil drops, stocks soar after Trump postpones strikes on Iran
By John Towfighi, Chris Isidore, CNN
New York (CNN) — Stocks rose and oil prices fell sharply after President Donald Trump on Monday said the United States would postpone further strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure, pending the outcome of negotiations.
The Dow closed higher by 631 points, or 1.38%. The S&P 500 gained 1.15% and the Nasdaq rose 1.38%. The three stock indexes pared some gains after rising more than 2% earlier.
Still, the move higher halted a recent slide. The Nasdaq had closed on the verge of correction Friday — a decline of 10% from a recent peak.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 10.92% to settle at $99.94 per barrel, its first settle below $100 per barrel since March 11. US crude oil sank 10.28% to settle at $88.13 per barrel, its lowest settle since March 11.
Oil prices posted their biggest single-day drop since March 10, when Trump said the Iran war would be over “very soon.” The declines come after oil prices on Friday had settled at their highest level since July 2022.
Trump, in an early morning social media post, said discussions with Iran would take place over the course of the week. But it’s unclear whether the Strait of Hormuz would be safe to transit. The crucial waterway, which carries 20% of the world’s oil supply, has been effectively closed by Iran.
Stock futures jumped higher and oil swiftly fell immediately after Trump’s message about the military pause, reversing earlier moves. But markets retreated from some of their initial enthusiasm after the Israel Defense Forces said it was continuing strikes on Tehran, and it became unclear whether Iran agreed with Trump’s version of events.
“The market woke up to some potentially good news out of the Middle East on Monday,” Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley, said in a note.
“But follow-through on any relief rally will likely require tangible follow-through on the geopolitical front,” Larkin said. “We’re still living in a headline-driven market, and with a light economic calendar this week, the focus will remain oil prices and politics.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran has held no negotiations with the United States, rejecting claims by Trump that Washington and Tehran have made significant progress in talks, according to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 index rose 0.6%, closing slightly higher but paring gains after initially surging as much as 2.3% following Trump’s announcement. Germany’s DAX index closed higher by 1.2% after initially surging more than 3.5%.
Gold prices were down more than 3% just after posting their worst week since 1983, continuing a recent slump after a meteoric rise in prior months. The US dollar index moved 0.5% lower, wavering after strong gains this month.
Treasury yields moved lower as investors bought bonds. Yields, which influence borrowing costs across the economy, had moved sharply higher in recent weeks while the Iran war intensified.
Gas prices
US diesel and gasoline futures fell Monday alongside oil prices. Diesel futures and gasoline futures were down about 10% and 9.5%, respectively. But futures are still up 79% and 73% this year, respectively.
Even with the declines in oil prices Monday, oil prices remain around a third higher than they were before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
Global oil prices have soared since the start of the war in Iran due to the lack of oil tankers able to exit the strait. Trump had threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless it stopped the attacks on shipping and allowed the strait to open by today.
Americans have paid the price for the fighting in the form of higher gas prices. US gas prices rose for the 23rd straight day Monday, reaching $3.96 in the latest reading from AAA, the highest price since August of 2022.
The average price is now up $1.02, or 34%, in the last month. That’s a bigger one-month gain than in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and also the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The latter spike eventually took prices to a record $5.02 a gallon.
While America, the world’s largest oil producer, gets relatively little crude from the Middle East, prices are set in a global commodity market. US gas prices are directly affected since gasoline is derived from crude.
Even if the war is essentially over and oil prices do start to fall, it could take some time for pump prices to start to decline as previous increases work their way through the system.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed reporting.
