Equities finished lower yesterday as doubts rose around the path forward for the Iran situation. US officials remained stateside instead of boarding a plane for a second round of negotiations as the ceasefire deadline continued to draw closer. A deadline which President Trump said was unlikely to be extended. Oil prices extended Monday’s gains but did end off the highs while precious metals were under pressure. Ahead of the open retail sales were better than expected and earnings continued to be solid. However, major indices ended near session lows down a little more than 0.5%, pretty shallow pullback in the context of the recent rally. Outside of Kevin Warsh being called a “sock puppet” his Senate confirmation hearing was largely uneventful as he spent most of his time discussing Fed independence and mission drift.

Before any real consternation could set in, right after the close President Trump announced an extension of the ceasefire, coincidentally (or not) on a Tuesday yet again. Futures quickly bounced back recouping the last leg of the day’s selloff. The WSJ reported that significant progress has been made between the two sides behind the scenes, while Axios reported that Trump is only going to give Iran 3-5 more days to engage in negotiations. Futures extended gains this morning after Lebanon said it was working with Israel to extend their own ceasefire. However, there are reports that more ships in the Strait have been attacked by Iran, which is apparently still undecided as to whether it will attend another round of peace talks. Equities opened higher but we’ve seen some rotation with technology outperforming with the NYSE 100 up nearly 2%, while financials and industrials pull back. It is notable that while equities are bouncing back energy prices are on the move higher again with ICE Brent trading back >$100.