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April 17, 2026 – 01:01

(Bloomberg) — Oil dropped in early Asian trading after President Donald Trump expressed optimism about securing a permanent ceasefire with Iran ahead of the expiry of the current truce next week.

West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 1.6% to $93.21, paring gains from the previous session.

US equity-index futures wavered with contracts for the S&P 500 Index edging up and those for the Nasdaq 100 little changed. The two Wall Street gauges both closed higher Thursday, setting record highs for a second day, with technology shares outperforming. Netflix Inc. slid in after-hours trading after issuing a second-quarter forecast that missed analysts’ expectations.

Elsewhere, gold was little changed and the dollar edged lower against most of its Group-of-10 peers.

While Trump said prospects for a deal with Iran are “looking very good,” delegates at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington warned markets may be underestimating the war’s economic toll. Investors are betting continued negotiations may reopen the Strait of Hormuz, easing oil and inflation and supporting global growth, though the timing and durability of any agreement remains uncertain.

“Investors have become conditioned to buy every dip,” said Michael Bell, head of market strategy at RBC BlueBay Asset Management. “The outlook is binary, either Hormuz reopens soon or it doesn’t. With equity markets already assuming Hormuz will reopen soon, the upside is perhaps limited.”

Adding to market concerns, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called on US authorities to prepare a back-up plan in order to avert a potential collapse in demand for the $31 trillion market for US government debt — an event that he warned would have “vicious” effects.

Earlier, Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. His announcement on Thursday made no mention of Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a video message that he’d agreed to the truce. Trump also said he believed Iran had agreed to terms it has long resisted, including giving up ambitions for a nuclear weapon. Tehran has not publicly confirmed it’s made those concessions.

“This is yet another sign of headline fatigue as it relates to the war in the Gulf region,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO. “The prevailing consolidation pattern is also suggestive that the influence of fresh geopolitical headlines is waning.”

In US corporate news, a busy week of financial-sector earnings continued to produce mixed results. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. shares rose after net interest income beat Wall Street estimates and the board authorized a new $10 billion share buyback plan. Charles Schwab Corp. shares slipped on a revenue miss even as total new assets solidly beat analyst expectations, as retail investors put more money into the market.

Stocks have also been buoyed by cooler-than-expected US producer and import prices this week, and got another lift after initial jobless claims for the week ending April 11 came in below economist forecasts.

“The S&P 500’s sharp rally off the late-March lows has been nothing short of impressive, but has the index moved too far, too fast?” Sevens Report founder Tom Essaye wrote Thursday, noting a drop-off in trading volumes.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 8 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures fell 0.5% S&P/ASX 200 futures fell 0.1% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1785 The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.11 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8213 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.5% to $74,856.85 Ether fell 0.4% to $2,342.07 Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.8% to $93.01 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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