S&P 500 Nears Record as Trump Claims Iran Talks — Tehran Denies
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- S&P 500 climbed 1.5% on Monday, settling just shy of its closing record of 7,620.90 set on June 2, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.1%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to hit a record high of 53,178.41, with the index's 30 blue-chip constituents all participating in the rally
- Magnificent Seven tech stocks led the surge — Meta rose 6%, while Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet climbed between 4.4% and 4.9%; Nvidia gained 2.9% and Tesla 3.5%
- Brent crude fell about 5% on Monday before rebounding to roughly $85 per barrel in early Asian trading, reflecting trader bets against near-term escalation
- Trump claimed talks with Iran were under way and offered Tehran a "last chance" to sign a deal before facing renewed strikes, a day after saying he called off "the biggest attack since World War II" following Gulf leader discussions
- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei flatly denied any negotiations with Washington were taking place, though said Iran was in separate talks with Oman on Strait of Hormuz ship transit
- Asian markets reversed early gains on Tuesday — South Korea's Kospi fell 1%, Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.7%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.5%
Why it matters: Markets are pricing in a diplomatic off-ramp that Iran has explicitly denied exists, with the Dow already at a record and the S&P 500 within 1.5% of its peak. Brent crude's 5% drop reflects the same bet — if Tehran's denial holds and the "last chance" framing collapses, a rally built on Trump's one-sided narrative could reverse just as quickly as oil can spike back.
