Trump says oil and stock market reaction to Iran conflict not as severe as he expected
President Donald Trump said Thursday that neither the rise in oil prices nor the decline in stock markets during the Iran era were as bad as he expected.
In a public appearance surrounded by Cabinet members, Trump expressed confidence in the war effort and said the economic damage would be reversed.
Addressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the president said, “Oil prices are not going up as much as I thought they would, Scott, to be honest with you. Everything will go back to where it was and probably go down even further.”
US crude oil prices were flirting with $100 a barrel early in the conflict but fell as Trump insisted the conflict would end soon. However, oil prices increased by more than 40 percent during the war, causing the price of gasoline to increase by more than $1 per gallon.
In the stock market, the S&P 500 lost 4.8% in March and 6.5% from its record peak at the beginning of this year.
Both metrics are measures of how Trump views his economic successes. He harshly criticized former President Joe Biden when gas prices rose on his watch, and Trump repeatedly noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average had surpassed 50,000 in early February.
Trump has a view that the economic damage will reverse once the war is over.
“My predictions came true,” he said.
However, Wall Street economists have recently raised the possibility of a recession in the next 12 months, with many arguing that the damage to the economy through inflation and oil-related fallout will cause a contraction unless the war ends quickly.
