Oil prices drop following Trump’s statement on Iran attacks

The price of oil went down after President Trump’s Wednesday morning address to the country in response to Iran’s retaliatory airstrike against a pair of U.S. military bases in Iraq.

The United States’s oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell more than 4 percent after Trump’s remarks, though the president’s words had a converse effect on stocks, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit highs following the address, Reuters reports.

Additionally, the Dow Jones saw an uptick, going up nearly 200 points.

Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management in Luxembourg, told the wire service that the movement indicates that investors are betting on a de-escalation in Middle East tensions.

“The impact on global risk assets will probably moderate from here as we are likely past the worst part of the crisis,” John Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management in Tokyo, told Reuters. “Neither side wants a war.”

During his address on Wednesday, Trump confirmed that no casualties and minimal damage had been sustained in the attack, and the president intimated that the U.S. and Iran could possibly be on the path to de-escalation after two weeks of building tension. 

“Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,” Trump said in an address to the nation.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran reached a fever pitch last week after a U.S. airstrike killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military commander, in Baghdad.