A New Day In The Middle East?

Any day with a ceasefire in the Middle East is a good day for stocks. On Monday, President Donald Trump declared that the "12-Day War" between Israel and Iran is over. The S&P 500 rose 2.1% yesterday and today on that news to 6092.18 (chart). That's only 0.9% below the February 19 record high of 6144.15. The market rose even though both Israel and Iran today accused each other of violating the ceasefire brokered by Trump, who angrily responded by dropping an F-bomb on both countries: "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing."

The White House also went ballistic over news reports that US missile strikes did not completely destroy Iran's key nuclear sites, based on an initial assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News in a statement that the "alleged assessment is flat-out wrong ...” and "a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program."