Stock Rally on Pause After US-Iran Tensions

U.S. stocks slipped on Friday as rising tensions between the United States and Iran slammed the brakes on this week’s run that lifted the S&P 500 to a record high.



The Federal Reserve has signaled an interest rate cut as early as July, sparking a rally in stocks that helped the S&P 500 index close at a new record of 2,954.18 on Thursday.

But an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after President Donald Trump delivered a warning of an imminent attack on Iran weighed on sentiment.

“When you look at the magnitude of the move we’ve had in a short period of time, especially this week, I’m not surprised to see the markets lower today,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

“We know there’s a G20 meeting, which could be binary in its results being bullish or bearish. It’s not unusual for investors to take a bit of a pause.”

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza