Oil Prices Slump After Trump Eases Concerns Over Iran

Oil prices tumbled Thursday after US President Donald Trump moderated his rhetoric on Iran, while US stocks bounced back after two down days.

International oil benchmarks Brent North Sea crude and West Texas Intermediate slumped more than four percent after Trump on Wednesday said he would "watch it and see" on possible intervention in the Islamic republic.

Trump added that he had been told that the killings of protesters there had stopped.

Crude prices had surged over recent days as Trump talked about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on demonstrations, sparking concerns over possible disruption to global supplies.

"As tensions are dialed down between Iran and the US, the political risk premium is rapidly getting priced out of the oil price," said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.

In stock market trading, a forecast-busting fourth-quarter net profit by Taiwanese chipmaking titan TSMC helped turn around investor sentiment.

The tech-rich Nasdaq piled on more than one percent early in the session behind large gains among leading chip companies. 

But later in the day there was "kind of a roll-back in the megacap stock and semiconductors," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

The weakening of US equities followed remarks from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicating that semiconductor companies that don't build in the United States could face 100 percent tariffs.

All three US indices finished moderately higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 up 0.3 percent.

Investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs surged 5.8 percent and 4.6 percent after reporting strong profits on surging revenues tied to mergers and acquisitions.

In European trading, London's top-tier FTSE 100 index hit a fresh record high after official data showed that Britain's economy rebounded in November.

Frankfurt rose as traders reacted to news that Germany's economy eked out meager growth in 2025, dodging a third straight year of recession.

The Paris stock market fell slightly, dragged down in part by a drop in the share price of TotalEnergies in the wake of oil's retreat.

In Asia, Tokyo closed down 0.4 percent, cooling off after gains fueled by speculation that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would call an election to capitalize on strong public approval ratings.

Silver prices, which have surged to records in recent weeks, moved 0.3 percent lower after tumbling more than seven percent at one point. Gold prices also retreated modestly.

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