{"id":60071,"date":"2026-03-23T07:38:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-surge-as-trump-pauses-iran-strikes-oil-plunges-14-to-96\/60071\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:38:26","slug":"markets-surge-as-trump-pauses-iran-strikes-oil-plunges-14-to-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-surge-as-trump-pauses-iran-strikes-oil-plunges-14-to-96\/60071\/","title":{"rendered":"Markets Surge as Trump Pauses Iran Strikes; Oil Plunges 14% to $96"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Brent crude oil prices plummeted over 14% to $96 per barrel<\/strong> after President <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> announced a five-day postponement of military strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>US stock futures surged across the board<\/strong>, with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/sp500\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> E-mini rising 2.7%<\/strong> and the <strong>Nasdaq 100 up 2.6%<\/strong> on hopes of a &quot;complete and total resolution&quot; of Middle East hostilities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cryptocurrencies rallied<\/strong> in response to the de-escalation, as <strong>Bitcoin (<a href=\"\/stock\/BTC\">BTC<\/a>) climbed above $71,000<\/strong> and <strong>Ether (<a href=\"\/stock\/ETH\">ETH<\/a>) jumped nearly 6%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safe-haven assets saw a reversal<\/strong>, with <strong>spot <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold-price.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">gold<\/a> falling 1.3% to $4,432.09 per ounce<\/strong> while <strong>US Treasuries rose<\/strong> as investors rotated back into riskier equities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Trump Announces 5-Day Pause in Military Action<\/h2>\n<p>President Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> sparked a massive global market shift on Monday by instructing the Department of War to <strong>postpone all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure<\/strong>. The five-day pause is intended to facilitate ongoing discussions aimed at a &quot;complete and total resolution&quot; of hostilities in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Trump reported that the United States and Iran have engaged in <strong>&quot;very good and productive conversations&quot;<\/strong> over the last 48 hours. The president noted that the continuation of the pause is <em>subject to the success of these diplomatic meetings<\/em>, which have significantly lowered the immediate threat of a wider regional war.<\/p>\n<h2>Energy Markets Collapse on De-escalation Hopes<\/h2>\n<p>The global energy sector reacted violently to the news, with <strong>Brent crude falling as low as $96.00 a barrel<\/strong>, a staggering drop from its earlier session high of <strong>$114.43<\/strong>. <strong>West Texas Intermediate (WTI)<\/strong> also saw a sharp decline as the &quot;war premium&quot; evaporated from the market.<\/p>\n<p>In Europe, <strong>natural gas prices dropped 8.9%<\/strong> following the comments, providing much-needed relief to an economy previously bracing for severe supply disruptions. The <em>German Economy Ministry<\/em> stated it is currently unaware of specific goods delivery problems, though the <strong>European Union Gas Coordination Group<\/strong> is still scheduled to convene this Thursday to monitor the situation.<\/p>\n<h2>Equities and Crypto Rally on Risk-On Sentiment<\/h2>\n<p>Wall Street futures turned sharply positive as the threat to global energy supplies receded. The <strong>S&amp;P 500 futures increased by 2.5%<\/strong> immediately following the announcement, eventually reaching a <strong>2.7% gain<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/markets\/dowjones\/today.aspx\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> futures mirrored that rise with a <strong>2.7% increase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The crypto market benefited from the broader <em>risk-on sentiment<\/em>, with <strong>Bitcoin rising 4%<\/strong> to trade slightly above the <strong>$71,000<\/strong> mark. <strong>Ether<\/strong> outperformed the leading cryptocurrency, climbing <strong>nearly 6%<\/strong> as traders moved back into digital assets.<\/p>\n<h2>Gold Dips and Corporate Updates<\/h2>\n<p>As geopolitical tensions cooled, <strong>spot gold prices fell 1.3% to close at $4,432.09 per ounce<\/strong>, retreating from recent highs. Meanwhile, <strong>US Treasuries rose<\/strong> as the sharp decline in oil prices eased immediate inflation concerns, leading to a shift in bond market positioning.<\/p>\n<p>In corporate news, Cardinal Health (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAH\">CAH<\/a>) announced it <strong>&quot;remains confident&quot; in its fiscal 2026 outlook<\/strong>, despite the broader macroeconomic volatility. Separately, reports from the <em>Financial Times<\/em> indicate that President Trump is considering inviting Belarus leader <strong>Aleksandr Lukashenko<\/strong> to the White House, signaling a potential broadening of his administration&#39;s diplomatic outreach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Brent crude oil prices plummeted over 14% to $96 per barrel after President Trump announced a five-day postponement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[8634,970,1876,1947,3733,4180,4462,4664,4824,5030],"class_list":["post-60071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-cah-stock-cah","tag-wti","tag-sp-500","tag-oil","tag-bitcoin","tag-trump","tag-brent-crude","tag-iran","tag-geopolitics","tag-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}