NEW YORK: Global stock markets were mixed Monday (May 18) and oil prices rose while investors digested shifting developments in the Middle East as US President Donald Trump said he postponed a planned attack on Iran at the request of Gulf leaders.
Oil prices had briefly turned lower following an Iranian media report that said American officials had agreed to suspend sanctions against its crude while talks on ending the war continue.
But with no confirmation of the report, as well as Iranian statements on taxing travel through the strait, oil prices quickly began rising again.
US equity indices gyrated between positive and negative territory, ending the day mixed.
“It feels very tenuous right now,” said Tom Siomades, chief market economist at AE Wealth Management. “Obviously the Iran stuff on a daily basis is driving everything.”
Earlier, Iran said it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war.
On Sunday, Iran’s Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list, which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States
On Monday afternoon, Trump, who had given Iran a series of increasingly ominous warnings in recent days, said on social media that would “hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow.”
The US president said he had been asked to do so by the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as “serious negotiations are now taking place.”
Siomades described US markets as veering between geopolitics and sentiment on tech companies and earnings, saying “the winds just shift so quickly.”
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.