Oil tumbles – Global stocks rose after Donald Trump said the U.S. had reached a breakthrough in talks with Iran, while oil prices fell sharply on expectations that the Strait of Hormuz could reopen. The rally also arrived as investors looked to SpaceX’s IPO and weighed mixe
World stocks climbed on Friday, taking cues from a strong lead on Wall Street. At the same time, oil prices slid more than 4% after U.S. President Donald Trump said there had been a breakthrough in peace talks to end the Iran war.
The split reaction was stark. High oil prices have fed inflationary pressures globally as the Strait of Hormuz. a crucial shipping route for the world’s oil and gas. remained largely closed. Trump’s comments about progress in talks helped trigger hopes that an agreement between the U.S. and Iran could reopen the strait, and traders responded by pulling oil lower.
Brent crude oil fell 4.5% to $86.31 per barrel. It remained far above the roughly $70 a barrel level it was at before the war began in late February. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 4.3% to $83.90 per barrel.
Investors were also focused on a major upcoming event in the U.S. capital markets: the debut on Friday of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, which is set to become the largest IPO on record, raising around $75 billion.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 1.8% to 24,654.78, the CAC 40 in Paris added 1.9% to 8,356.38, and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1.2% to 10,428.98. That came even after official data showed the British economy contracted by 0.1% in April.
Across Asia, gains were broader. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 4.6% to 8,123.62, narrowing losses after earlier sell-offs tied to shares related to artificial intelligence. The Kospi has nearly doubled over the past six months, with a record closing high of 8,801.49 on June 2. Samsung Electronics climbed 7.9%, and SK Hynix rose 2.3%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.8% to 66,020.04, led by technology stocks. SoftBank Group, an investment holding company with a strong AI focus, was up 1.5%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 7.3%.
Further east, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.7% to 24,658.91, and the Shanghai Composite index added 1.1% to 4,031.51. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 2% higher at 8,804.00. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.4%, while India’s Sensex rose 1.4%.
The renewed investor optimism followed Trump’s statements on Thursday. when he said he had called off military strikes against Iran. He asserted that the U.S. had made “a great settlement of the war with Iran. ” and said an extension of the shaky ceasefire could be finalized “the next few days.” Few details were provided.
Markets had pulled back earlier in the week as U.S.-Iran tensions escalated. ING commodities analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey warned in a Friday note that Trump has said many times before that a deal was very close. only for hostilities to resume. They added that there does appear to be more positive noise around the deal this time. but cautioned against assuming the ceasefire extension is a done deal and warned that even if it happens. it could be fragile.
Wall Street’s momentum carried through into Friday’s positioning as futures pointed higher: the future for the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher. while the Dow Jones Industrial Average future was up 0.4%. Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street benchmark S&P 500 surged 1.8% to 7,394.30, back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.9% to 50,848.75, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 2.5% to 25,809.66.
Tech stocks have been moving sharply as investors try to separate momentum from risk. Prices of AI and other tech shares have been volatile over the past week. in part due to renewed worries that massive investments and soaring share prices are creating a bubble liable to burst. On Thursday, U.S. chipmaker Marvell Technology climbed 11.1%. But technology company Oracle lost 8.5% after worries about its high spending, despite strong-than-expected quarterly results.
Currencies also shifted. The U.S. dollar rose to 160.04 Japanese yen from 159.93 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1580, up from $1.1578.
Trump Iran peace talks Strait of Hormuz Brent crude U.S. crude SpaceX IPO markets rally S&P 500 futures DAX Kospi Nikkei Hang Seng Nasdaq Oracle Marvell Technology