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June 12, 2026 - 03:57
5 minutes
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended gains and oil fell after President Donald Trump said the US was nearing an agreement with Iran, raising expectations for a diplomatic end to the conflict that’s triggered price swings across financial markets for more than 100 days.MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge jumped 3.1% in its biggest advance in two months, led by an 7.7% surge for South Korea’s Kospi — a barometer for AI investments. Equity-index futures indicated Wall Street benchmarks will add to Thursday’s rally after Trump said the US “ended the war with Iran today.”Gains were pared following a report the US shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones.Investors’ focus remains firmly on the technology sector after SpaceX raised $75 billion this week in the world’s biggest initial public offering. At its IPO price, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. had a market value of $1.77 trillion. The company will debut on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas Friday.Brent crude fell 1% to about $89.50 a barrel as Trump pulled back from threatened military attacks against Iran, citing discussions that have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership for a negotiated end to the war. Trump said a signing could take place as soon as this weekend in Europe with Vice President JD Vance in attendance.“While the path toward a resolution is likely to be uneven, our base case is that diplomacy ultimately prevails, allowing investors to refocus on resilient economic fundamentals and robust earnings growth,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global equities CIO at UBS Global Wealth Management.The latest push for a deal buoyed risk sentiment by raising expectations that a broader Middle East conflict will be avoided, shifting attention back to corporate earnings and the AI-driven rally. A de-escalation would ease a major overhang for markets, lowering the risk of energy-supply disruptions that may boost oil prices and reinforce higher-for-longer interest rates.Treasuries pared Thursday’s gains, with yield on the 10-year rising one basis point to 4.47%.Trump’s comments had lowered yields across the curve in US trading. Short-term rate contracts that reflect expectations for the Federal Reserve — and had fully priced in a quarter-point increase in the US policy rate by December — shifted the assessment to the first quarter of 2027.Trump’s pullback from threatened military strikes against Iran was a stark reversal that came just hours after he vowed to hit the Islamic Republic and threatened to seize its oil infrastructure.Iranian officials had not yet approved the text of any agreement with the US, the nation’s semi-official news agency Fars, said earlier Thursday, citing a source it did not name.In other corners of the market, a Bloomberg gauge of the dollar edged up after four days of declines. Gold gave up some up some of its 3.4% rally on Thursday to trade around $4,185 an ounce.Earlier on Thursday, the European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 as economists had predicted.The oil-driven moves in bonds were complicated by the release of US inflation data showing bigger increases in wholesale prices in May than economists had estimated. Core prices excluding energy and food rose less than estimated, however.“Many are telling us they think the worst of the inflation data is in,” said Tony Farren, managing director in rates sales and trading at Mischler Financial Group. Lower-than-expected increases in core inflation despite higher energy prices “have changed the mindset of the Treasury market at least temporarily.”Corporate Highlights:Adobe Inc. said that its chief financial officer would depart the company, leaving the company without a top tier of veteran leadership after Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen announced in March that he would step aside. Intel Corp. jumped as Bank of America Corp. turned bullish on the chipmaker and upgraded it to a buy rating. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is offering $1.5 billion to acquire Chinese grocery delivery firm Pupu, initiating a bidding war as part of a broader campaign to wrest market share from Meituan in online commerce. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 10:54 a.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 3.3% Japan’s Topix rose 1.9% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.9% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.6% The Shanghai Composite rose 1% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 1.6% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1563 The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 160.25 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7687 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin was little changed at $63,353.9 Ether fell 0.4% to $1,664.62 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.47% Japan’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.640% Australia’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.83% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 1% to $86.86 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.5% to $4,189.58 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Toby Alder.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
