Today’s sharp market moves confirmed again that when President Trump changes his geopolitical stance, Wall Street doesn’t react with half conviction.
The ongoing peace rally has been impressive: Even with many ups and downs and conflicting stories since the ceasefire began about a month ago, equity bulls have stayed steady.
The trading session opened with strong activity. WTI Crude Oil dropped 8% after Axios reported a new, sustainable path toward a US-Iran peace deal. Throughout the day, no official statements challenged this positive outlook, so risk-on sentiment continued to build.
As the market closed, risk assets did not stall their rally a single minute.
The Dow Jones reached the 50,000 mark just before the close, for the first time since February 12, and the Nasdaq rose by nearly 2%. Gains also appeared in alternative assets, with precious metals rising and altcoins seeing renewed activity, while Bitcoin and Ethereum stayed mostly flat.
As highlighted in our mid-week update, with even Israel reportedly surprised by the rapid development of this deal, market participants are taking this diplomatic advancement very seriously.
While President Trump announced a one-week deadline for finalizing the agreement on Fox News, most institutional traders expect that no deal will be signed before Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit on May 14 and 15.