London (AFP) – Shares vacillated and oil prices dropped back Tuesday as Tehran gave an encouraging response during talks with US officials in Geneva on Iran’s nuclear programme, after days of escalating rhetoric from President Donald Trump. Oil prices had earlier risen after Trump ramped up threats towards Iran, a large crude producer, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated, “a new window of opportunity has opened.”
“We are hopeful that negotiation will lead to a sustainable and negotiated solution,” he said, though he added, “Iran remains fully prepared to defend itself against any threat or act of aggression.” West Texas Intermediate was down 1.0 percent at $62.25 per barrel after earlier jumping 1.5 percent, while international benchmark Brent North Sea Crude slipped 2.0 percent to $67.22. “There’s speculation that Iran could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the full lifting of financial sanctions, but it’s not clear if that will be enough to seal a deal between the two parties,” said Aarin Chiekrie, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Wall Street was vacillating two hours into the session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq off 0.1 percent as the Dow and the broader-based S&P 500 skirted either side of the red-green line. “Insurance brokers, wealth advisors, real estate services, and logistics were all in the firing line last week, and investors are cautiously watching for what slice of the market could be next on the AI hit list,” Chiekrie added.
European stocks closed in the green, with London and Frankfurt adding 0.8 percent, after Tokyo closed lower, and Chinese markets were again shut for the Lunar New Year. In foreign exchange, the dollar rose against the British pound as official data showed UK unemployment rising to a five-year high. Analysts said the reading of 5.2 percent for the final quarter of last year increased the likelihood of the Bank of England cutting its benchmark interest rate next month. The greenback was also higher versus the euro but fell against the yen.
Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, is unlikely to rebound in 2026 as geopolitical uncertainty, high costs, and weak domestic demand weigh on growth, the country’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce said Tuesday. Germany returned to weak growth in 2025 after two years of recession. Shares in German agrochemical giant Bayer rose almost eight percent, meanwhile, as it revealed subsidiary Monsanto had proposed a class settlement of up to $7.25 billion to settle claims that the Roundup weedkiller causes blood cancer, potentially drawing a line under years of costly litigation.
**Key figures at around 1645 GMT:**
New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 49,511.11 points
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.1 percent at 6,838.05
New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.1 percent at 22,529.89
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 10,556.17 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 8,361.46 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.8 percent at 25,005.34 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 56,566.49 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: closed for holiday
Shanghai – Composite: closed for holiday
**Foreign Exchange Rates:**
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1830 from $1.1854 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3532 from $1.3630
Dollar/yen: UP at 153.62 yen from 153.48 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 87.42 pence from 86.98 pence
**Oil Prices:**
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $62.28 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.0 percent at $67.24 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
