This content was published on <\/p>\n
April 2, 2026 – 06:06\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 Oil jumped, while stocks and bonds fell after President Donald Trump warned the US would hit Iran \u201cextremely hard\u201d over the next two to three weeks, undermining expectations for an imminent resolution to the five-week-old Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
Brent crude jumped 5% to above $106 a barrel as the war kept the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a key artery for Middle East shipments \u2014 effectively shut, tightening supply. The passage would reopen \u201cnaturally\u201d once hostilities subside, the US president said, without providing details or a clear timeline.<\/p>\n
Stocks sold off after Trump\u2019s speech undermined a nascent global rally, as concerns grew that a prolonged war would keep crude oil prices elevated and weigh on economic growth. A gauge of Asian shares fell 2.1%, while equity-index futures for the US and Europe dropped more than 1.2%, signaling the two-day advance in global equities on expectations of easing tensions is unlikely to hold.<\/p>\n
The dollar strengthened, reinforcing its appeal as the haven of choice during the war. Treasuries dropped on inflation concerns and precious metals declined.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump\u2019s speech was not what the market had hoped for \u2014 namely, signals pointing toward an end to the conflict,\u201d said Jumpei Tanaka, head of investment strategy at Pictet Asset Management Japan Ltd. \u201cInstead, he suggested a potential escalation. The remarks are being interpreted as a negative factor for the equity market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Optimism had been building in the run-up to Trump\u2019s speech after the president had earlier said he foresaw the US ending the war with Iran within two to three weeks. The change of tone in Trump\u2019s speech damped hopes for a quick conclusion of the conflict that has already roiled financial markets and pushed several equity gauges into correction territory as investors pare risk.<\/p>\n
In the near 20-minute speech, Trump didn\u2019t outline any shift in Iran policy, nor did he provide specifics on how operations would proceed beyond what he has said before.<\/p>\n
Trump said the core strategic objectives are nearing completion, in a speech from the White House. The president nevertheless suggested that military operations may soon escalate, saying \u201cover the next two to three weeks, we\u2019re going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rare prime-time speech came as the president was grasping for an off-ramp in a conflict that has quickly slipped out of control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market was craving some clarity on when the conflict will finish, but this speech has just added more uncertainty,\u201d said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets. \u201cInvestors are clearly unimpressed and I think we could see more downside for global markets today.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Bloomberg\u2019s Strategists Say\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cRisk rallies will remain volatile in the short term and vulnerable to sustained reversals in the longer term because of the likelihood that even the best-case scenario for the conflict will create sustained, deep damage to global supply chains. This week\u2019s back-and-forth looks to be entrenching the likelihood that shipping through Hormuz will remain well short of pre-war levels for a substantial period.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Garfield Reynolds, MLIV Asia Team Leader. Click here for the full analysis.<\/p>\n
Hours ahead of the speech, the Iranian president took the unusual step of issuing a letter addressed to Americans, arguing that his country has no enmity with the US and has acted in self-defense. He warned that \u201ccontinuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before\u201d and noted that attacks on infrastructure directly target the Iranian people.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Trump said that Iran has asked for a ceasefire, adding that the US would only consider it if the Strait of Hormuz was reopened. Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said the claim of a ceasefire request was \u201cfalse and baseless,\u201d according to state TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile everyone wants to move on from this, there is still much to unpack from the past month\u2019s events in the Middle East,\u201d said Ken Wong, Asian equity portfolio specialist at Eastspring Investments Hong Kong Ltd. \u201cThe question now is how much these developments will ripple through the global economy over the coming quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
S&P 500 futures fell 1.2% as of 12:57 p.m. Tokyo time Japan\u2019s Topix fell 1.5% Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 fell 1.1% Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng fell 1.1% The Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 1.8% Currencies<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3% The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1538 The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 159.39 per dollar The offshore yuan fell 0.2% to 6.8894 per dollar Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Bitcoin fell 2.3% to $66,594.59 Ether fell 4.1% to $2,056.35 Bonds<\/p>\n
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 4.37% Japan\u2019s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 2.380% Australia\u2019s 10-year yield advanced 12 basis points to 5.03% Commodities<\/p>\n
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.4% to $104.57 a barrel Spot gold fell 1.7% to $4,676.63 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u2013With assistance from Momoka Yokoyama, Ruth Carson, Winnie Hsu, David Finnerty, Mark Cranfield, Aya Wagatsuma and Gabrielle Ng.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on April 2, 2026 – 06:06 (Bloomberg) \u2014 Oil jumped, while stocks and bonds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,6144,85,46,5268,6145],"class_list":["post-370646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-general","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-stocks","tag-ticker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}