US stock market: After the announcement of the Strait of Hormuz deadline for two more weeks, and a crash in crude oil prices, the Dow Jones futures shot up by nearly 2% during the early morning session on Wednesday. By 6:02 AM during the early morning session in Asian markets today, Dow Jones futures were trading green, up nearly 863 points, or around 2%.
Earlier, the US stock futures had rallied on Tuesday evening following the de-escalation in the US-Iran war. The S&P 500 futures surged to 6,804 after ending at 6,616, logging around 2.84% gains. These gains in the US stock futures took place after a muted Tuesday session on Wall Street
According to market experts, this rally in the US stock futures can be attributed to the crash in crude oil prices after the ceasefire buzz in the US-Iran war. Experts believe the ceasefire trigger is mainly due to the extension of the Strait of Hormuz deadline announced by Donald Trump on Tuesday. They said that global markets are also expected to react positively to this development.
US-Iran war: 11th-hour truce after Trump’s threats
According to the news agency AFP, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, barely an hour before President Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate the rival country was set to expire, with Tehran to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.
After more than a month of blistering attacks by the United States and Israel, Iran cast the ceasefire as a victory and said it had agreed to talks with Washington to begin Friday in Pakistan on a path to end the conflict.
Trump said he had spoken to Pakistan’s leaders, who “requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran.”
“Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that ships would have safe passage for two weeks through the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to one-fifth of the world’s oil, which Tehran sealed off in retaliation for the war launched on February 28.
“If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations,” Araghchi said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, who has played a key mediating role, said the ceasefire would begin immediately.
He said that the United States “along with their allies” had agreed to a ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon, implying that Israel had agreed to halt its invasion of its northern neighbour.
(This is a developing story. Please rehash for more updates)