FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Equity markets shifted back into reverse on Thursday following U.S. President Donald Trump's address to the nation. Investors are moving to de-risk ahead of the long Easter weekend, which coincides with the expiration of Trump's ultimatum in the conflict against Iran. After three consecutive days of gains, the DAX is expected to slip back below the 23,000-point threshold. Two hours before the opening bell, broker IG signaled a 1.9 percent drop to 22,860 points.
While Trump once again held out the prospect of ending the war during his speech, he also reaffirmed previous threats. "Markets had just begun to price in a more peaceful future - and then the U.S. President sends new threats toward Tehran," noted Thomas Altmann, an analyst at QC Partners.
Trump stated that the U.S. is on track to achieve all military objectives "very soon." Until then, he warned of continued heavy strikes against Iran, potentially targeting the country's power plants as previously signaled. "We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," Trump said, adding that further talks were ongoing in the meantime. The extended deadline to destroy energy infrastructure, through which Trump aims to force the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, expires on Monday, April 6./tih/jha/
