Stocks slide, dollar advances after Trump speech on Iran war

SINGAPORE: Stocks fell, the dollar firmed and oil rose on Thursday after US President Donald Trump ​said Washington’s “core strategic objectives” in the Iran war were nearing completion ‌but stopped short of providing a clear outline of when the conflict would end.

The prospect of the end to the month-long U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has ​lifted global stocks and knocked the dollar off its recent ​highs in the past two sessions after a brutal March ⁠where soaring oil prices sent risk assets into a tailspin.

But ​Trump, in his prime-time speech, said the US will strike Iran “extremely hard” ​over the next two to three weeks and hit the country into the “Stone Ages.”

That sent stocks retreating, with U.S. stock futures down 0.67% while European futures were ​0.1% lower.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.75%. ​Japan’s Nikkei reversed course to trade down 0.79% in volatile trading.

Analysts and investors ‌were ⁠focusing on when and how the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route, would reopen and ease the bottleneck in supply that has hit Asian economies hard.

Iran has fired repeatedly on Gulf countries, some ​home to U.S. ​bases, and is ⁠using the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, as ​leverage.

Higher energy prices in March stoked fears of global ​inflation ⁠with worries about slowing growth also sapping sentiment.

The US dollar has been the haven of choice among investors during the tumult and the greenback ⁠rose ​against most currencies after the speech.

The euro ​weakened 0.25% to $1.156. The front-month Brent contract for June rose over 3% to $104.75 per barrel.