Oil rises 7% and world shares fall after Trump says US will hit Iran
hard and 'finish the job'
[April 02, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
HONG KONG (AP) — Oil rose more than 7% and world shares fell after
President Donald Trump said in his first national address since the Iran
war began that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran very hard.
Trump also said in his Wednesday night speech that the United States
will “finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are
nearing completion” and military operations could wrap up soon.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three
weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they
belong,” Trump said in his address.
Trump did not mention a looming deadline he set for Iran to open the
Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global oil and gas
transport, after he threatened Iran earlier with U.S. attacks on its
energy infrastructure if the strait was not reopened. He did not offer a
clear path to end the supply disruptions that have sent energy prices
soaring.
In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% to
10,342.28. France's CAC 40 was 0.8% lower at 7,917.81, and Germany's DAX
lost 1.6% to 22,935.01.
Asian shares closed lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 2.4% to 52,463.27
on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.5% to 5,234.05, also after
government data showed consumer prices in March rose 2.2% from a year
earlier on soaring fuel costs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7% to 25,116.53, the Shanghai Composite
index was down 0.7% to 3,919.29.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.1%, while Taiwan’s Taiex traded 1.8%
lower.
U.S. futures were down. The future for the S&P 500 lost 1.1%, while that
for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.9%.
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Persons walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 Oil prices were sharply higher
following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard,
jumped 7.4% to $108.69. per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 7.1%
to $107.24 a barrel.
“The market has shown disappointment because the speech President
Trump made was far less than what the market expected," said Takashi
Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex in Tokyo. "There were no concrete
details about the end of the hostilities with Iran.”
“What the market wants is a clear outline for the ceasefire," he
said.
Gold and silver prices fell. Gold's price was down 3.4% to $4,648.20
per ounce, falling below the $4,700 mark. Silver lost 6.2% to $71.39
an ounce.
Renewed optimism on Wednesday for a possible end to the Iran war
pushed world stocks higher, after Trump said late Tuesday the U.S.
military could end its offensive in two to three weeks.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 added 0.7% to 6,575.32. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 46,565.74, and the Nasdaq composite
climbed 1.2% to 21,840.95.
In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.59
Japanese yen from 158.82 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1530, down
from $1.1589.
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