US stock futures fell on Thursday morning after President Trump vowed to "hit Iran hard" and "send them to the Stone Age" in a national address that failed to provide a certain end to the US-Israeli war in Iran.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) fell 1.5% as Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) sank 2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) dropped 1.4%, sliding more than 600 points.

Markets are making sense of President Trump's speech that suggested the US would escalate its military operations before withdrawing from Iran in two to three weeks. Developments in the US-Israeli war against Iran have rattled global markets for weeks, with an open Strait of Hormuz a crucial signifier for stability in energy markets.

Brent crude has surged roughly 40% since the war began in late February. Though a pullback in oil prices this week has bolstered sentiment. Following Trump's address, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) rose 9% to trade above $109 a barrel, while Brent (BZ=F) jumped 8% to also trade above $109.

Thursday marks the final trading session of the holiday-shortened week ahead of the Good Friday closure. Investors will parse weekly jobless claims data in the morning, with the closely watched March jobs report due Friday.

You haven't missed all the gains to come in oil stocks in the aftermath of Operation Epic Fury, writes Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi. One analyst says that oil stocks continue to make a lot of sense.

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Here's a rundown on how the different assets are reacting to the latest news on the Iran war.

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell almost 3% and hovered just above $66,000. Ethereum (ETH-USD) also fell by 4% and sat around $2,000 as of 5:44 am ET following the news on Trump's continued military advancement in Iran.

Metals: Gold (GC=F) futures slumped over 3%. Copper (HG=F) also fell, alongside aluminum (ALI=F), which had reached its highest close in four years on Wednesday was lower today.

Tech stocks, Nvidia (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Micron (MU), Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC) all fell between 2-3% during premarket hours on Thursday after President Trump announced strikes on Iran would continue, causing US equities to fall, with Nasdaq 100 futures sinking 1.4%.

Energy stocks Devon Energy (DVN), Antero Resources Corp. (AR), Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), and Permian Resources (PR) all rose 3% before the bell on Thursday, following President Trump's announcement on Thursday that the US will continue to strike Iran, leading to a pullback in US equities and a rise in Brent crude (BZ=F) and crude (CL=F) oil prices.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) stock rose 5% during premarket hours on Thursday. The American manufacturer and distributor of agricultural fertilisers has been affected by the war in Iran, as hopes dim that hostilities will end following Trump's address to the nation on Wednesday, and supply concerns about fertiliser from the Persian Gulf persist.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell on Thursday following President Trump's address to the nation, where he said there would be harder strikes against Iran in the coming weeks.

Bloomberg News report:

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Bloomberg News reports:

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Oil prices jumped and US equity futures fell after President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday night, where he reiterated his argument that the US is close to completing its goals but said the war is not over yet.

Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, reversed from multi-percentage losses to a gain of roughly 4.8%, trading around $106 per barrel after dropping below $100 earlier in the session. Those on US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude (CL=F) reversed from earlier losses to gain roughly 4.2% and trade near $104.30

Futures on the S&P 500 (ES=F) traded down by roughly 1%, while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) lost a slightly slimmer 0.9% on the session. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) lost roughly 1.1%.

Without laying out any truly new information, the president implied Wednesday night that the US would be escalating the conflict in an attempt to end it, noting that the US is sending Iran “back to the stone ages” in an attempt to cripple their ability to threaten global security.

While Trump was reported to have been considering pulling US military out of Iran within two to three weeks while leaving control over the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical energy chokepoint — unsolved, the president did not take a strong stance on the issue Wednesday night.

As the war in Iran drags on for a fifth week, energy prices have surged, with only mild pullbacks from multiyear highs. The result, according to Bank of America economists, will be slower growth, higher inflation, and oil at $100 per barrel through the rest of 2026.

Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré reports:

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