Dollar slides, stocks jump as Trump signals pause on Iran strikes

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

March 23, 2026 7:16 AM EDT Updated 7 mins ago


LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The dollar plunged and stocks surged on ​Monday after U.S. President ‌Donald Trump said he had asked the Department of Defence ​to postpone "any and all" military ​strikes against Iranian power plants ⁠and energy infrastructure for ​five days.

The dollar had traded ​higher against most other currencies until the headline hit, sending the ​euro up over 1% ​into positive territory to $1.158, from around $1.487 ‌earlier. ⁠The dollar index fell 0.3%, having shown a 0.6% rise earlier on .

U.S. stock ​futures jumped ​over ⁠2%, while the STOXX 600 (.STOXX), erased daily ​losses to turn positive. ​It ⁠was last up 0.7%, having been down over 2.2% ⁠in ​early trade.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/global-markets-iran-strike-urgent-2026-03-23/

---

Just breaking. Pure market manipulation. Oil has dropped over $10/bbl now and down to $88/bbl.

Soon it will be "2 weeks".

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Pure market manipulation.

They should take this clown and lock him up. You can't plan 2 hours ahead but what it reverses. Public nuisance.

[twodogsbarking]

2. The monkeys all dance for the organ grinder. You nailed it. Thank you.

[Renew Deal]

3. Agree that it's market manipulation

He tried with the “winding down” statement and it didn’t work. So he’s trying again while Israel says the opposite.

[nitpicked]

8. At this moment

US stocks zoomed up, oil and RBOB tumbled (but at this moment, now a bit of apparent profit-taking)

https://www.cnbc.com/

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I don't believe it at all.

Goad Iran into false complacency and then attack again but more intensely.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

13. Oh they're still going to attack...

They're just juicing the markets as much as they can in the meantime.

[nitpicked]

5. From AP live update thread

https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-03-23-2026
(snip)
13 min ago
Trump says talks ongoing
By JON GAMBRELL
Trump added that the suspension of his threat to attack Iranian power plants was “subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”

Trump’s announcement came as the United Arab Emirates reported its air defenses were attempting to intercept new incoming Iranian fire Monday afternoon.

Prior to Trump’s announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged talking by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Turkey has been an intermediary before in negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
(snip)

22 min ago
breaking news updates
JUST IN: Trump extends his deadline for Iran to reopen Strait of Hormuz, says US to hold off on power plant strikes for 5 days
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
(snip)

[nitpicked]

6. He probably will speak again after 1300 EST

From his schedule:
https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/
(snip)
1:00 PM
The President participates in the Memphis Safe Task Force Roundtable [12:00 PM Local]
Tennessee Air National Guard, Memphis Open Press
(snip)

[Whip-poor-will]

7. trump

Isn't that special now...... A war crime holiday

His mouth wrote another check his ass can't cash.

Big bluff though always till he's called and Iran sure has his number.

[blue-wave]

9. Yes, it is pure market manipulation

I have been following the price of oil daily. It seems every Sunday night, the price starts to creep up. Then, some announcement comes out like the one in this post. The price drops. Give it a few days, it will likely creep higher again.

[Bengus81]

11. Yepper...6:04am it started dropping like a rock. Went down $13.00 on Trump BS lies

More LIES,more distraction

[Ray Bruns]

10. Why does this sound like a load of horseshit?

[Bengus81]

12. How many Oil futures contracts did the Trump family buy when it tanked to $86??

Manipulation once again................

[republianmushroom]

14. He ran out of ammo.

Iran told him to shove his deadline.

[mdbl]

15. Who in the market made money on this last little fiasco

They probably were told what he was going to do ahead of time.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. $1.5B notional worth of S&P500 (ES) futures are bought in a single clip 5 minutes before Trump announcement

Link to tweet

5 minutes before Trump’s announcement:

* $1.5B notional worth of S&P500 (ES) futures are bought in a single clip.

* $192M notional of oil futures (CL) sold.

More than 4x-6x any other trade size during the market close.

Insiders profited from his lies in broad daylight!

This is from

"Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran professor, policy consultant, independent journalist and father. Trying to make the world suck less. Follow for the latest in politics, economics and law."

via Wonkette