As investors considered Washington’s signals that a diplomatic settlement in the Iran war might be near, European equities were largely stable on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 increased by 0.11%, Germany’s Dax increased by 0.11%, and the pan-European Stoxx 600 decreased by 0.1%. At 0.65%, the French CAC 40 declined by a little larger amount. In an indication of a potential diplomatic breakthrough, US President Donald Trump stated that new conversations between Washington and Tehran “could be happening over the next two days” in Islamabad and that the war was “very close to over” despite ongoing ambiguity over important issues of contention.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan increased by 0.5%, the Kospi in South Korea increased by 3.0%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong increased by 0.7%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 increased by less than 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%. The index at the core of many 401(k) plans is currently only 0.2% off its record established in January. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 increased its gains from the day before by 1.2%.
The Nasdaq Composite increased by 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 317 points, or 0.7%. The benchmark US crude price increased by 1 cent to $91.29 per barrel on Wednesday. After dropping 4.6% the day before, Brent crude gained 48 cents to $95.27, or less than 1%. That is still well off the peak of $119, even if it is still above its about $70 level before to the start of the war in late February. Businesses in many sectors of the economy benefit from lower energy prices. Some observers cautioned that the euphoria might not be warranted, pointing out that the battle is still continuing on.
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