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August 18, 2025 – 01:38

(Bloomberg) — Oil dipped as the US-Russia summit ended without any geopolitical escalation, easing concerns of supply disruption. Stocks were set for a tepid start ahead of talks between Donald Trump and Ukraine’s president.

Brent crude dipped 0.4% in early Asian trading, extending the decline this year to 12%. Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% while contracts indicated a mild decline for most Asian indexes. A gauge of the dollar was steady.

The Friday summit meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ended without any new sanctions on Russia or buyers of its crude, reducing the likelihood of disruptions to oil exports, wrote Tony Sycamore, market strategist at IG Australia Pte. The spotlight for investors will be on Trump’s talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington, as they look for clues on where markets head next.

With expectations already low heading into the Trump-Putin summit, market reaction is likely to be mild “as a lot still rests on Ukraine’s willingness to accept the terms from Russia,” said Jordan Rochester, Head Of Macro Strategy For EMEA at Mizuho Corp. “But hope is a powerful thing and this outcome will keep the slow grind of higher risk sentiment alive and well.”

Zelenskiy and his European allies arrive in Washington on Monday anxious to find out what Trump committed to at his summit with Putin and apprehensive that he’ll force Kyiv into making unpalatable concessions.

While the US is expected to focus on territorial concessions demanded by Russia, Kyiv will seek to pin down possible security guarantees, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The end result from Friday’s summit is more of the same, as stakeholders look for next steps in resolving the crisis, said Helima Croft, head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets LLC. Attention now could shift back to India and China as the US tries to look for ways to further crimp the Kremlin’s oil revenues.

“Trump appears to putting on hold any additional sanctions or secondary tariffs on energy,” Croft said.

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended lower after data showed US consumer sentiment deteriorated for the first time since April and inflation expectations rose.

This week, traders will be watching Japanese inflation data for guidance on whether the Bank of Japan will hike rates again this year. China’s loan prime rates will also be in focus amid expectations of more stimulus from Beijing to weather Trump’s trade war.

Elsewhere, traders will also be positioning ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat at Jackson Hole with Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech keenly watched for guidance on a September rate cut after recent US data.

“The Fed will agonize about the labor market data, the level of unemployment, inflation and all that, but they will still cut rates,” Kit Juckes, head of foreign exchange strategy at Societe Generale, wrote in a note to clients.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 8:27 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures were little changed S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.6% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1706 The Japanese yen was little changed at 147.30 per dollar The offshore yuan was unchanged at 7.1886 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was little changed at $117,637.64 Ether rose 0.4% to $4,490.7 Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $62.66 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.3% to $3,326.78 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Matthew Burgess, Weilun Soon and Serene Cheong.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.