Headlines:
market:
- WTI crude fell 5.5% to $80.22
- CHF leads, USD and JPY lag on the day
- European indices rose, with the DAX up 1.3% and the CAC 40 up 1.2%.
- S&P 500 futures up 1.3% and Nasdaq futures up 2.1%
- US 10-year yield fell 2.5 bps to 4.46%
- Gold rose 2.8% to $4,335
Here it is.
The US and Iran have confirmed the signing of a memorandum of understanding this weekend and that is giving markets a sigh of relief, at least for now.
The war may be over but does that mean an end to terror for the markets? Not enough.
It all still depends on how things will turn out on the Strait of Hormuz but the good news is that it is likely to be better than what it is now.
So far, there is no news other than an LNG tanker is on its way as the Iran Navy has not yet announced any formal changes to traffic flow on the waterway.
Oil prices fell sharply at the beginning of the week, with WTI crude briefly falling to the low $80s and remaining at that level today.
Meanwhile, equities are gaining strongly, with European indices gaining more than 1% on the day. Positive sentiment came from Asia, causing the Nikkei to close 5% higher. And it looks like it will later be extended to Wall Street trading as well.
Tech stocks are on the rise again, with Nasdaq futures up 2.1% following the successful launch of the SpaceX IPO on Friday. S&P 500 futures also see a solid gain of 1.3% as momentum continues to rise further.
In other markets, the dollar is falling as bond yields also cool to start the new week. EUR/USD rose 0.4% to above 1.1600 and AUD/USD rose 0.4% to 0.7070 on the day. However, USD/JPY remains near 160.00 with the focus on the BOJ later this week.
Apart from this, precious metals are also gaining strongly and on that day gold rose by 2.8% to reach $4,336.
