Trump’s Iran Address Offered Familiar Claims and Little New Strategic Direction

President Trump delivered his first prime-time address to the nation on the Iran war on Wednesday night, speaking for less than 20 minutes from the White House in a speech the administration billed as containing “an important update.” What followed was largely a recitation of positions and claims the president has made repeatedly over the…

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Donald Trump

Trump’s Speech Wipes Out Two Days of Gains as Oil Jumps 6% and Futures Crater

Markets spent the morning of April 2 digesting a reality that the previous two sessions’ relief rally had refused to price in: Trump’s primetime address to the nation on Wednesday night was not the off-ramp investors were waiting for. S&P 500 futures fell 1.29% overnight after the speech, Nasdaq 100 futures lost 1.59%, and Dow…

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Wall Street Posts Its Best Session Since May as Iran Peace Signals Trigger a Massive Relief Rally

Tuesday was the kind of day Wall Street had been desperate for since February 28. The Dow Jones jumped 1,125 points, the S&P 500 surged 2.91%, and the Nasdaq advanced 3.83% — each index posting its biggest single-day gain since May — after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signalled publicly that Tehran has the “necessary will”…

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Hormuz Doesn’t Have to Reopen for the War to End: The Bombshell Story That Moved Markets

The Wall Street Journal dropped a significant story late Monday night that immediately sent futures higher and oil prices tumbling: Trump has privately told senior aides he is willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked. The report, citing administration officials, said Trump and his team…

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SpaceX’s Anticipated IPO Filing Sends Space Stocks Surging in Volatile Market

Even in a week dominated by geopolitical anxiety and falling equities, one story managed to generate genuine excitement on Wall Street: the imminent prospect of a SpaceX IPO. Reports emerged that Elon Musk’s aerospace company could file its S-1 prospectus with the SEC as early as this week, kicking off what would be the largest…

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Wall Street Closes a Week It Would Rather Forget With Gold’s Worst Run Since 1983

The arithmetic of this past week on financial markets is striking enough to sit alongside the most turbulent periods of the post-financial-crisis era, even before the symbolic element of gold recording its worst weekly performance since February 1983 is factored in. Gold fell below $4,500 on Friday for the first time in weeks, down more…

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Wall Street Absorbs a Body Blow as the Fed Confirms Its Hawkish Pivot, Miran Dissents

The Federal Reserve’s decision to hold its benchmark interest rate in the 3.5% to 3.75% range on Wednesday was the most anticipated non-event of the year — until Jerome Powell started talking. What followed his opening remarks sent traders scrambling for the exits in a session that turned a routine hold into a full-blown risk-off…

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Qatar Airways Attempts a Carefully Managed Comeback as the Gulf Aviation Crisis Enters Its Third Week

Three weeks after Iranian missile and drone strikes forced the closure of Qatari airspace and grounded virtually the entire Qatar Airways fleet, the airline is attempting a partial return to operations this week, beginning with a limited scheduled service to dozens of destinations that started on March 18 and runs through to March 28. It…

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Where is Trump Rally Today

A Cold War-Era Law, a Dormant Pipeline, and a Fight That Could Reach the Supreme Court

The Trump administration has invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950, a Cold War-era emergency statute, to direct Sable Offshore Corp. to restart a pipeline and offshore oil operation along the Santa Barbara coast that has been shut since a rupture in 2015. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued the order on Friday, framing it as…

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White House Rejects Immediate Treasury Oil Futures Intervention Amid Iran Chaos

Officials within the Trump administration have reportedly decided against using the U.S. Treasury Department to trade oil futures contracts as a method of influencing energy markets for the time being. The possibility had been discussed internally as oil prices surged following the outbreak of conflict involving Iran, which has raised concerns about potential disruptions to…

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