US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to call for an unconditional surrender by Iran and is considering a potential strike on the Middle Eastern nation as the conflict with Israel ran into a fifth day.
Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic tumbled while oil prices climbed amid the general unease about the heightened tensions in the Middle East, with energy giants BP and Shell rallying in London and Chevron advancing on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, solar stocks such as SunRun and SolarEdge Technologies tumbled after revisions to the White House’s big and beautiful tax and spending legislation included full phasing out wind and solar tax credits. Infratil, which is exposed to US renewable energy through its Longroad investment, rallied on the NZX on Tuesday.
And Australian property developer GemLife has confirmed it will join the ASX in a A$750 million initial public offering.
No nukes
US President Donald Trump cut short his trip to Canada for the Group of Seven nations’ summit, returning to the White House to work on a real end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, and calling for an unconditional surrender by Tehran. Trump is considering a range of options, including a potential strike on Iran.
“With the market concerned about the chance of direct US involvement, a step-up from Trump’s verbal intervention so far, investors have taken a cautious stance,” Bank of New Zealand senior market strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “In the last hour or two, Iran has warned it would launch ‘punitive’ action against Israel, calling Israelis to evacuate Haifa and Tel Aviv immediately.”
Stocks on both sides of the Atlantic sank, with the S&P 500 down 0.8% in late trading on Wall Street, while the UK’s FTSE 100 index declined 0.5% and Germany’s DAX 30 dropped 1.1%.
Oil prices resumed their march higher with Brent crude futures up 0.5% at US$76.81 a barrel.
While the declines were widespread, energy giants were broadly stronger, with Chevron up 2.2% on Wall Street, and BP and Shell each gaining more than 1%.
Renewable strife
US renewable energy companies sank after revisions to the White House’s major tax and spending legislation included the full phasing out of wind and solar tax credits from 2026, ending two years later.
Solar and battery storage firm SunRun sank 41% while battery company SolarEdge Technologies dropped 34%. New Zealand’s Infratil rallied 3.9% on the NZX yesterday.
Meanwhile, Microsoft dipped 0.3% after the Wall Street Journal reported tensions were flaring up between the software giant and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI.
Antipodean blues
Australian futures are pointing to a 0.4% decline for the S&P/ASX 200 index, while the kiwi dollar fell to 60.13 US cents at 7am from 60.68 cents yesterday.
Dairy prices fell at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, with the GDT price index declining 1% with an average selling price of US$4,389 a tonne. Whole milk powder prices slipped 2.1% to US$4,084 a tonne.
Local data today include the Westpac consumer confidence survey, and March quarter balance of payments, which is expected to show a narrowing of the current account deficit.
And electricity generator Manawa Energy will hold a special meeting today for shareholders to decide whether to approve Contact Energy’s takeover of the company through a scheme of arrangement.
Across the Tasman, property developer GemLife’s Singaporean shareholder Thakral confirmed a A$750 million initial public offering on the ASX is on the cards, saying the deal was fully underwritten by JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Thakral will buy almost 601,000 in the float at the A$4.16 offer price, and will have its 32% stake diluted to 17% after the new money is raised.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Suzy Brooks on Unsplash.
