Stocks jump as Trump postpones strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure
A heat map of the S&P 500 was bright green on news of a potential ceasefire on energy asset strikes.
Stocks got a boost after President Trump posted on Truth Social that he would postpone any strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure “for a five day period,” citing “very good and productive conversations” with Iran over the past two days, though Iran’s foreign ministry denied any such negotiations with the US.
News of the potential ceasefire sent crude oil down sharply. Every sector traded higher, with consumer discretionary advancing the most.
Bitcoin also jumped following Trump’s comments, as did ethereum, but traders remain unconvinced that ethereum’s price can break $2,500 in March, per prediction markets. (Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)
Stocks that moved higher:
Fuel price-sensitive stocks rallied, including cruise lines Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, as well as airlines Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Allegiant.
Tesla outperformed the rest of the Magnificient 7 after CEO Elon Musk announced on Saturday that the company will join forces with SpaceX on his Terafab project — what Musk says will be “the most epic chip-building exercise in history by far.”
Palantir Technologies jumped following reports that the US military is making its long-term commitment to buying and using Palantir’s Maven AI targeting system official.
Apogee Therapeutics soared on encouraging mid-stage results for a dermatitis treatment.
Core Scientific rose as JPMorgan joined Morgan Stanley to raise the bitcoin miner’s credit line to $1 billion.
FanDuel parent company Flutter Entertainment and DraftKings rose on news that a bipartisan pair of lawmakers are seeking to ban Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated companies from offering prediction market sports contracts.
Synopsys rose on news of activist fund Elliott Investment Management’s multibillion-dollar stake.
Imax jumped after pulling in 20% of the domestic opening weekend haul for “Project Hail Mary.”
Stocks that moved lower:
Chemical and fertilizer makers, which have surged since the Iran war began on expectations of shortages and price increases for their products, dipped on news of the potential ceasefire, with CF Industries, LyondellBasell, and Dow, Inc. trading lower.
