President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran during the G7 Summit in France on June 17-18, aimed at ending a conflict that began with US military strikes on February 28. His stated motivation for pushing the deal forward was, in part, remarkably simple: the stock market kept going up every time peace looked possible.
Trump put it bluntly, saying that “every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship.”
Markets responded before the ink dried
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed near 52,000 during trading sessions surrounding the deal. Brent crude oil prices fell more than 5% to approximately $82, a sharp drop that reflects the market pricing in reduced supply disruption risk from the Middle East.
Major indices showed gains across the board during the June 15-18 window, as traders positioned ahead of and reacted to the formal signing.
