Oil prices skipped higher early Thursday and Wall Street veered toward modest losses on skepticism over a fragile and muddled ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran.
Talks to pursue a permanent end to the war could start in Pakistan on Saturday, and Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead the U.S. delegation. Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform that U.S. military will remain in the region “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.”
Elsewhere, at midday in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.9% and Germany’s DAX lost 1.3%.
Asian shares closed mostly lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.7% to 55,895.32, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.6% to 5,778.01. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% to 25,752.40. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.7% to 3,966.17. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.2% to 8,973.20. Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.3% higher, while India’s Sensex dropped 1.6%.
The U.S. dollar rose to 158.98 Japanese yen from 158.57 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1681, up from $1.1663.
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Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to this report.
