Global Markets React to Geopolitical Tensions and Economic Data

International benchmark Brent crude futures for July rose 1.81% to trade at $111.27 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) for June gained 2.15% to $107.69 per barrel as investors weighed President Trump's latest message to Iran.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said on Sunday: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

Washington has been locked in a conflict with Tehran since US and Israeli forces launched major strikes on the Islamic republic at the end of February. Since then, little progress has been made on ending the war that has sent global energy prices soaring.

A drone strike over the weekend on a United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant further added to worries over a potential escalation in the conflict.

Asia-Pacific markets fall

In other trade early Monday, markets in Japan and South Korea pulled further back from their records. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 60,843.09, a decline led by technology-related stocks, after it reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s, part of a shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. That’s up from around 2.55% just one week ago.

Seoul’s Kospi jumped 0.9% to 7,558.50 after trading lower earlier in the day. It crossed the 8,000 mark on Friday, supported by buying of technology shares driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, but later declined partly on profit-taking by investors.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.6% to 25,543.32. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,132.24, after China reported weaker-than-expected retail data for April.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.4% to 8,508.40, while Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 1.1%. India’s Sensex fell 0.6%.

In other dealings, the US dollar rose to 159.02 Japanese yen from 158.62 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1626, up from $1.1622.

European markets are expected to start the week lower, according to IG data.

Wall Street's fall from records

US stock futures, meanwhile, were trading flat after the American stock market fell from its records on Friday and joined a worldwide drop for stocks after higher oil prices sent a shiver through the bond market. Stocks that had been caught up in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology led the way lower.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 537 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.5% from its own record.

Technology stocks tumbled in a sharp turnaround from their meteoric rises for much of the year, which had carried markets worldwide to records but also raised criticism that they had gone too far.

Nvidia, the stock that quickly became the face of the AI revolution, dropped 4.4% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It had come into the day with a gain of more than 26% for the year so far.

Micron Technology was another one of the heaviest weights on the market after falling 6.6%. It’s nevertheless still up nearly 154% for the year so far.

“To us, it looks like markets have pushed into overbought territory,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. He said the strong corporate profits and durable US economy that launched US stocks to records remain intact, but “the path is unlikely to be smooth. Periods like this call for discipline more than hope.”