Traders made $832m in oil bets just before Trump’s post on Iran talks
George Steer, Amelia Pollard and Malcolm Moore
New York | London | Traders made bets worth half a billion dollars in the oil market about 15 minutes before Donald Trump’s post touting “productive” talks with Iran sent the price of crude tumbling and ignited volatility in other assets.
Roughly 6200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands between 6.49am and 6.50am New York time on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), just a quarter of an hour ahead of the US president’s post on Truth Social that there had in recent days been “productive conversations” with Tehran to end the war in Iran. The notional value of those trades was $580 million ($832 million), according to FT calculations based on Bloomberg data.