Trump's Iran Talks Send Oil Prices Reeling Amid Yen Intervention
Oil prices plummeted by over 6% to $82.41 after US President Donald Trump announced that talks with Iran will take place on Monday, following his decision to call off an imminent attack.
The S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.6%. However, Japan's Nikkei dipped 1% and South Korea's KOSPI slid 3.6% after a turbulent July in which it dropped 22%.
The Japanese yen surged more than 1% to 155.39 per US dollar following joint intervention by the US and Japan to prop up the currency, which had reached fresh 40-year lows.
Masayuki Nakajima, a Mizuho Bank strategist, noted that the objective of the intervention was likely not to reverse the broader trend of a weakening yen due to structural forces, but rather to halt the momentum in favour of yen appreciation.