A burst of unusually large oil futures trades worth nearly $580 million (approximately £434 million) was executed just 15 minutes before US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about 'productive' talks with Iran — a post after which crude prices fell sharply and stock futures rose. The trades have raised questions about information access surrounding presidential social media posts.
Around 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands between 6:49 am and 6:50 am New York time, based on Financial Times calculations using Bloomberg data. The trades occurred about 15 minutes before Trump's 7:04 am post, stating there had been 'productive conversations' with Tehran to resolve the military standoff with Iran. Shortly after, futures tracking the S&P 500 share index rose in price, with volumes also rising during that timeframe.
