Oil Market Trades Executed Minutes Before Trump Iran Announcement Net Mystery Buyers $580 Million in Profits

Financial markets traders placed massive, suspiciously timed bets on S&P 500 futures and oil futures just minutes before President Trump announced a pause on planned military strikes against Iran this week, according to a new report.About 15 minutes ahead of Mr. Trump’s Monday morning post on Truth Social touting “productive conversations” with Tehran, roughly 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands, the Financial Times reports. At the exact same time, S&P 500 e-Mini futures recorded a sharp and isolated jump in volume. The notional value of the oil trades alone was estimated at $580 million.Mr. Trump’s announcement triggered an instant rally in the markets, sending S&P 500 futures soaring more than 2.5 percent and causing oil prices to tumble nearly 6 percent. The timing of the trades has drawn intense scrutiny, and the positions generated massive profits for whoever was behind them.“It’s hard to prove causality, but you have to wonder who would have been relatively aggressive at selling futures at that point, 15 minutes before Trump’s post,” a market strategist at an American broker told CNBC.Another portfolio manager noted that such activity creates a high level of frustration among regular investors. “My gut from watching markets for the last 25 years is this is really abnormal,” he said. “It’s Monday morning, there’s no important data today, there aren’t any Fed speakers you’d want to front run. It’s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk . . . Somebody just got a lot richer.”The White House has firmly denied any leaks or insider trading. “The only focus of President Trump and Trump administration officials is doing what’s best for the American people.” spokesman Kush Desai told CNBC. “The White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally profiteering off of insider knowledge, and any implication that officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting.”The S&P rally and falling oil prices were short-lived. On Tuesday morning, the S&P was down nearly 1 percent, and oil was up more than 4 percent.Reacting to the reports on social media, one prominent Democratic senator said the trading amounted to “mind-blowing corruption.”“Who was it?” asked Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut in a social media post. “Trump? A family member? A White House staffer?”

Oil Market Trades Executed Minutes Before Trump Iran Announcement Net Mystery Buyers $580 Million in Profits

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