The dominant macro driver on Thursday was a sharp de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions after President Trump cancelled planned military strikes, triggering a broad relief rally that pushed the S&P 500 up 1.75% to 7,394.3, the Nasdaq up 2.54% to 25,809.66, and the Russell 2000 up 3.02% to 2,921.03 — recovering nearly all of Wednesday's losses. The VIX collapsed 12.51% to 19.44, signalling a rapid repricing of near-term tail risk. However, the relief is incomplete: Iranian officials disputed that a final agreement has been reached, Supreme Leader approval remains outstanding, and Iranian forces blocked a tanker attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without prior coordination. Against that backdrop, Brent crude eased to $90.38 — still down 2.92% on the day — while U.S. May CPI accelerated to 4.2% year-on-year, a three-year high, driven by a 23.5% surge in energy costs, and PPI printed at +1.1% month-on-month versus a 0.7% consensus, lifting the year-on-year rate to 6.5%. The FOMC, which meets from Monday 16 June, is now widely expected to hold at 3.50%–3.75% with fed funds futures pricing a hike — not a cut — as the more likely year-end move.
For European investors, the cross-asset picture is mixed. The ECB hiked 25 basis points on Thursday — its first increase since 2023 — lifting the deposit rate to 2.25% and revising 2026 inflation forecasts up to 3.0%, while cutting GDP growth to 0.8%; this is reflected in the German 10-year Bund yield jumping 8.6 basis points to 3.00%, a meaningful move for rate-sensitive European sectors including Real Estate and Financials. The DAX underperformed sharply relative to Wall Street, closing up just 0.06% at 24,209.71, weighed by SAP's 6.55% decline after the company flagged a near-$40 billion capital raise to fund AI expansion. European Oil & Gas was the worst-performing sector (-0.53%), tracking lower crude, while Food & Beverage led gains (+1.67%) as a defensive rotation accompanied the geopolitical uncertainty. EUR/USD was essentially flat at 1.1536, while GBP/USD slipped 0.07% to 1.3362, nudging EUR/GBP up 0.08% to 0.8631 — a modest sterling softness consistent with risk-off residue and the absence of near-term Bank of England catalysts. TTF gas fell 5.00% to 47.21 EUR/MWh on Iran deal optimism, offering some relief to European energy-intensive industries, though the EU Carbon ETS held near 77.00 EUR/tCO2.