International crude oil prices surged overnight, while stock markets in Europe and the United States, along with gold and silver, experienced collective declines. Significant news emerged from the Middle East, accompanied by a statement from former President Donald Trump.
On March 20, international oil prices climbed sharply. At the close of trading, the price of light sweet crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by over 2%, while the price of Brent crude for May delivery increased by more than 3%.
Reports indicate that, as learned on March 20 local time, officials at the U.S. Department of Defense have formulated detailed preparatory plans for the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Iran. It is understood that former President Trump has been considering whether to deploy ground troops to Iran.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, on March 20 local time, Donald Trump stated that as considerations are made to gradually de-escalate major military operations against the Iranian regime in the Middle East, the United States is very close to achieving its stated objectives: 1. To significantly degrade Iran's missile capabilities, launchers, and all related facilities. 2. To destroy Iran's defense industrial base. 3. To eliminate Iran's naval and air forces, including air defense weapon systems. 4. To prevent Iran from even approaching a nuclear capability; simultaneously, the United States must maintain a posture enabling a swift and forceful response should such a situation arise. 5. To protect U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and other nations, with the highest level of commitment.
Trump stated that the guarding and patrolling of the Strait of Hormuz should, when necessary, be undertaken by other nations that use the strait, and that the United States will no longer bear this responsibility. If invited to assist, the U.S. is willing to support these nations' operations in the Strait of Hormuz, but such assistance will no longer be necessary once the threat from Iran is completely eliminated. He noted that for these countries, this would be a relatively straightforward military operation.
In a separate development, the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved a 30-day authorization on March 20 local time, permitting the delivery and sale of vessels loaded with crude oil and petroleum products originating from Iran. The new license allows for the sale of Iranian crude and petroleum products that were already loaded onto vessels by March 20.
The U.S. dollar strengthened on March 20, leading to significant declines in international gold and silver prices. Spot gold fell by 3.43%, while COMEX gold futures dropped by 2.16%. Spot silver declined by 6.89%, and COMEX silver futures decreased by 4.54%.
The three major U.S. stock indices all closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.96%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 2.01%, and the S&P 500 index declined by 1.51%.
Regarding individual stocks, Super Micro Computer saw its shares fall by over 33%. SanDisk dropped by more than 8%, Western Digital declined by over 7%, and Micron Technology decreased by more than 4%.
Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. also fell, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closing down by 2.92%. Kingsoft Cloud shares dropped by over 9%, XPeng by over 8%, NIO by over 7%, GDS Holdings by over 7%, Hesai Group by over 6%, and Bilibili by over 4%.
European stock markets broadly declined. Germany's DAX 30 index closed down by 2%, France's main index fell by over 1.8%, Italy's index dropped by nearly 2%, and the UK's index declined by over 1.4%.
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