Trump Postpones Strikes on Iranian Energy, Market Sentiment Improves
Hopes for de-escalation in the Middle East conflict helped restore positive sentiment as President Trump's Truth Social post that strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure would be postponed after "productive" talks with Tehran boosted equities and dented geopolitical premium in the energy markets. Consumer Discretionary and Materials were the best performing areas on the benchmark S&P 500, though all 11 sectors ended Monday in the positive - including Energy in spite of Oil prices falling back below $90 per barrel. In the opening hour of the evening session, S&P 500 futures are up another 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 is trading up 0.3% while WTI Crude is just off the closing lows above $89. In precious metals, risk aversion which had boosted USD and punished Gold and Silver prices has reversed, and the two contracts are trading firmer around $4.435 and $70 per ounce respectively.Among the key headlines of the afterhours session continued to remind investors that the primary source of concern are still present. Core Labsissued a below-consensus Q1 pre-announcement as the company cited regional instability in the Middle East, including client-driven project delays, travel constraints, and supply-chain disruptions. Private Credit worries also cropped up via reports from Bloomberg stating that Apollo Globalhas joined some of the other asset managers in capping private equity redemptions due to high volume of requests by investors to liquidate their positions.Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.HIGHER AFTER EARNINGS -BARKup 6.4%Bionano Genomicsup 4.1%DOWN AFTER EARNINGS -Core Laboratoriesdown 1.8% after Q1 pre-announcementAardvark Therapeuticsdown 1.5%ALSO LOWER -Comtech Telecommunicationsdown 3.9% after equity offeringApollo Global Managementdown 2.1% after Bloomberg report of capped private equity redemptions
