Stocks and energy prices staged a remarkable reversal Monday afternoon after President Donald Trump told CBS News that the war in Iran was “very complete, pretty much.”
Trump repeated that message later in the day at a Florida press conference, where he said the U.S. is “achieving major strides toward completing our military objectives.”
“This was just an excursion into something that had to be done,” Trump said. “We’re getting very close to finishing that, too.”
After having soared as much as 32% overnight to $119 per barrel, the price of U.S. crude oil plunged around 5%, to around $86 per barrel by 4 p.m. ET. International Brent crude oil also dropped, by more than 3.5%, to less than $89 per barrel.
U.S. equities markets also sharply reversed. The S&P 500, which had fallen as much as 1.5%, ended the day higher by 0.83%. The Nasdaq Composite, which earlier tumbled as much as 1.4%, ended the day in the green by 1.38%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average clawed back a more than 880 point drop to wrap up the trading day higher by 239 points.
Still, the price of U.S. crude oil has risen more than 50% since the start of the year and more than 30% over the last five days.
As of Monday afternoon, the average price of U.S. retail gasoline nationwide had hit $3.49 a gallon, continuing its sharp march higher. Since the war began, the average price per gallon has risen more than 50 cents, according to the price-tracking service GasBuddy.
In Japan, the broad Nikkei 225 recorded its worst day since last April’s tariff-induced sell-off, tumbling 5.2%. The index also entered correction territory, which is when a stock or an index falls 10% or more from its most recent record high.
South Korea’s Kospi index also tumbled 6%, and at one point it was halted for 20 minutes on heavy selling. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.6% as markets in Germany, France, Italy and Spain dropped around 1%.
Bonds, which earlier sold off, also finished the day higher. As a result, the 10-year U.S. government bond yield dipped to 4.10% and the 30-year bond yield dropped to 4.71%.
Natural gas prices also tumbled, with futures traded in New York falling 4% by 4 p.m. ET and futures traded in Europe pulling back from an earlier sharp rise to trade higher by only 5%.
Heating oil, which can be a proxy for jet fuel, also dropped by more than 8% after having traded higher by 23%.
Finance ministers of leading industrialized nations held a video conference Monday to discuss a potential joint release of oil reserves in a bid to ease skyrocketing prices. But they decided against a petroleum release, for now.
“We are not there yet,” France’s finance minister, Roland Lescure, told reporters in Brussels, adding that the group will “continue to monitor the situation very closely.”
“I want to be very clear on the fact that we are ready to take necessary and coordinated steps in order to stabilize markets,” he added.