Iran Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over a small, private dinner of spinach soup, scallops and Diet Coke on Monday night, President Trump told the Dutch king and queen that he wants to bring the war in Iran to a swift end.The only way to get Tehran back to the negotiating table, Trump explained to his royal guests and Dutch officials at the White House dinner, was to increase the pressure, officials briefed on the dinner said.The Dutch government already had declined to help Trump with a blockade on Iranian ports, which it called “worrying” and an “escalation upon escalation.” Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who had seized on the monarchs’ visit to secure an invitation and speak to Trump, told the president that European allies would stand up an international coalition to help secure the Strait of Hormuz—but only after the fighting ended.“We agree to disagree,” Jetten told reporters afterward. The meal “was too short to convince each other, but long enough to get a better understanding of each other’s positions.”The dinner laid bare the conundrum before Trump as he tries to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran, even as he declared that the war is “very close to over.” While Trump said that he would be announcing “other countries” that will be involved with the blockade, none have stepped forward, and many have outright refused.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s exports took a blow in March, with merchandise exports falling to $38.9 billion from $42.1 billion a year earlier. Imports fell to $59.6 billion from $63.7 billion, helping narrow last month’s goods-trade deficit to $20.7 billion. The impact of the US war on Iran seems to have started playing out.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Amid diesel supply constraints triggered by the ongoing West Asia war, the government’s review of telecom operators and tower firms’ complaints has laid bare a crucial gap: the sector’s “critical infrastructure” tag is not ensuring priority fuel access on the ground. This threatens network continuity, especially in areas reliant on diesel-fuelled power backups, putting essential services—from hospitals to law enforcement—at risk of disruption.Despite its formal classification under national critical frameworks, telecom infrastructure continues to face uneven state-level curbs on diesel sales and movement.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: Indian equity benchmarks staged a spectacular recovery on Wednesday, 15 April, as Nifty 50 surged 1.63% to close at 24,231.30, while Sensex rallied 1,264 points to settle at 78,111.24.This sharp rebound was primarily fueled by cooling geopolitical tensions as renewed hopes for U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks triggered a significant drop in crude oil prices below the $100 mark.The overall market breadth was exceptionally strong, with an advance-decline ratio of nearly 6:1 (2,839 advances to 438 declines), reflecting broad-based participation beyond front-line stocks.On the sectoral front, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT led the charge, gaining 2.91% and 2.84%, respectively. On the other hand, Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks with gains exceeding 2%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian equities caught a strong bid on Wednesday, with both the Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex rallying nearly 2%, as easing tensions in West Asia lifted investor sentiment. The mood turned distinctly risk-on amid growing signs that the conflict may be approaching a resolution.As per reports, US President Donald Trump suggested the war is “close to over,” even hinting at a second round of face-to-face talks with Iran in Pakistan in the coming days.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Many informal migrants who had returned to their villages during the covid lockdowns stayed back after the pandemic ended, which led to an increased share of India’s employed population working on farms. Disrupted supplies of affordable cooking gas in wake of the Iran conflict have restarted a slow but worrying reverse migration of informal workers to villages.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: Indian equities closed lower on Monday, 13 April, as escalating geopolitical tensions triggered a broad risk-off sentiment. The Sensex fell 702 points, or 0.91%, to 76,847, while the Nifty declined 208 points, or 0.86%, to 23,842, recovering from deeper intraday losses.The decline followed the collapse of US-Iran peace talks and the US announcement of a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, stoking fears of supply disruptions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The bulls are active and capitalising on every dip to trigger a recovery. However, the market continues to be dragged down by an inability to sustain gains at higher levels.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.THE WORLD stands on the brink of a nuclear-arms race. If one can be avoided, a big reason will be this: currently, the first country to start such a race risks paying a terrible price.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—President Trump’s decision to post an AI-generated image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure sparked outrage on the religious right, triggering the most significant pushback from his Catholic and evangelical Christian supporters since he returned to the White House.“We are a little bit beside ourselves,” said John Yep, CEO of Catholics for Catholics, a nonprofit that has hosted faith events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and maintains close ties to the administration.On Sunday night, Yep was eating dinner with friends after church services when his phone lighted up with messages about the now-deleted image in which Trump, wearing robes, touches the forehead of a man lying in a hospital bed.The collective sentiment around the table, Yep said in an interview, “was one of sadness, because we were truly confused by this president after Catholics gave him such a resounding vote, and yet he is treating our faith with such disrespect at this moment.” He immediately reached out to contacts close to the administration to voice his “sadness and frustration.”Rod Dreher, a conservative writer who attended the Catholic baptism of Vice President JD Vance before he entered politics, went further. “Not saying Trump is the Antichrist,” Dreher told The Wall Street Journal.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The 10-year government securities yield climbed from 6.68% on 27 February 2026 — a day before the US-Iran conflict broke out — to 7.1% by 2 April, before easing slightly to 6.98% as of 13 April.The spike has pushed long-duration debt mutual funds into negative territory, with the category down an average 1.11% since the war began.Long-duration funds, classified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) as those with a Macaulay duration of more than seven years, are among the most interest rate-sensitive debt fund categories. When rates fall, bond prices rise and investors gain; when rates rise, the reverse happens, leading to mark-to-market losses.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Saudi Arabia is pressing the U.S. to drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table, fearing President Trump’s move to close it off could lead Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes, Arab officials said.The blockade is aimed at raising the pressure on Iran’s already crippled economy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WHEN AMERICA and Israel began their war on February 28th, it was widely expected that Iran would choke off shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Few would have predicted that, less than two months later, Donald Trump would impose a blockade of his own, targeting traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas. It went into effect on April 13th.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump is pitching a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as an opportunity for American oil-and-gas exporters. The squeeze on supplies is a bad omen for prices at the pump.The U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.American military forces began blockading all traffic attempting to enter and leave Iranian ports on Monday, setting up a risky new showdown after peace talks in Pakistan collapsed this past weekend.With enough warships, a blockade could intimidate many tankers attempting to move oil to and from Iran. But U.S. forces would also need to be ready to board and seize hostile ships that try to break the blockade.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Retail inflation edged higher to 3.4% from a year ago in March from 3.2% in February, government data issued on Monday showed. The main driver was dearer food, whose prices rose 3.9%, quicker than February’s 3.5% increase. Inflation in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels was at about 2% while transport prices were flat.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Wall Street traders have become preoccupied by one particular market indicator.Some refer to it as the Treasury breakeven inflation curve and, while that’s a bit of a mouthful, it’s simply the market’s expectation of average inflation over two periods.The breakeven inflation rate for the 2-year and 10-year reveal how the market thinks prices would behave in the near- and long-term. Plotting the difference between these two expected inflation rates delivers this so-called curve, which has been under intense scrutiny.The breakeven curve “highlights the markets moving on from the [Iran] conflict,” wrote Barry Knapp, managing partner of Ironsides Macroeconomics, underneath a video posted Monday.How? Consider what happened after Russia invaded Ukraine and after President Donald Trump unveiled punitive tariffs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Goldman Sachs might have provided an early preview of market reaction to the first quarter earnings season, which in turn could be a warning to investors looking for outsize profit growth to offset the renewed risks tied to the U.S. war with Iran.The Wall Street titan on Monday posted a massive surge in first quarter profits, thanks in part to record stock trading revenue and a near doubling in investment banking fees, and solid gains from its asset management division.But its bottom line growth rate of 19%, in terms of overall profits, dwarfed the 6.5% rate at which Goldman topped Wall Street’s headline earnings estimate, suggesting investors had already priced a large amount of the bank’s performance into its stock price heading into Monday’s update.Shares in the group, in fact, were last marked 3.5% lower in early Monday trading, dragging both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 lower along the way.Deutsche Bank strategists, led by Binky Chanda, think this could be a theme that repeats itself throughout the whole of the first quarter reporting season.Across Wall Street, analysts are looking for headline earnings growth of around 14%, a rate that would take collective S&P 500 profits to just over $605 billion.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi must act urgently to gather a coalition of like-minded and like-affected countries to conduct diplomacy with the warring parties in West Asia. The goal is not so much to get them to stop fighting but to prevent their war from throwing the Indian and world economy into a severe crisis. US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will blockade the Strait of Hormuz for ships headed for or leaving Iran’s ports threatens to impose pain and suffering on hundreds of millions of innocents.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A bunch of listed realty developers announced March quarter (Q4FY26) operational updates last week. The highlight: record FY26 pre-sales or bookings.Godrej Properties' pre-sales rose 15% year-on-year to ₹34,171 crore, 5% ahead of its guidance.

Last week, I warned you that volatility in financial markets would rise further and reach crescendo levels that retail traders are not geared to handle. Sure enough, the markets gyrated wildly with larger-than-normal price swings. The expectations of a mean-reversion upmove and empirical evidence of a shorter trading week favouring bulls also played out as expected.