La Jornada: Uncertainty in the Middle East drags down Asian markets

An end to attacks on commercial shipping and a waiver of U.S. sanctions on the sale of Iranian crude were central elements of a memorandum of understanding that halted fighting between the United States and Iran and established a 60-day period to negotiate a broader peace deal.

Taken together, the events posed the most serious threat to the interim peace agreement. Washington blamed Iran for shipping attacks, while Tehran claimed the military strikes and revocation of the waiver violated the deal.

Meanwhile, Nasdaq futures fell 0.22 percent; of the S&P 500, 0.17 percent and those of the Dow Jones, 0.19. In Asia, investors wait cautiously; South Korea’s Kospi index fell 4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei fell more than one percent.

The DXY index, which measures the behavior of the US currency against a basket of six international currencies, advanced 0.12 percent in its first electronic operations on Monday to 100,875 units.

Amid the strength of the dollar and the increase in risk aversion, the Mexican peso depreciated 0.24 percent to 17.5069 units per dollar in electronic operations.

Thus, “concern about a new closure of the Strait of Hormuz is leading to a drop in the stock market and an increase in bond rates. We will have to see if there is a solution, since the global economic context of the United States and Iran improved significantly with the intention of the peace agreement in recent days,” he explained to consulting firm SNX.