{"id":86381,"date":"2026-05-19T16:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T06:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/?p=86381"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T06:58:32","slug":"general-market-analysis-19-05-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/general-market-analysis-19-05-26\/","title":{"rendered":"General Market Analysis \u2013 19\/05\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>US Stocks Mixed as Trump Holds Off Attack \u2013 Nasdaq down 0.5%<br \/><\/strong>US equity markets finished mixed overnight after President Trump indicated he would delay a planned strike on Iran to allow further negotiations to continue, helping ease immediate geopolitical tensions and steady broader market sentiment. The Dow Jones managed to outperform, rising 0.32% to close at 49,686, while weakness across the technology sector weighed on the broader indices. The S&amp;P 500 slipped 0.07% to finish at 7,403, with the Nasdaq underperforming once again, falling 0.51% to close at 26,090.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US Treasury yields edged slightly lower across the curve, although both the 2-year and 10-year yields remain near recent highs as markets continue to assess the inflationary implications of elevated oil prices and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. The US 2-year yield fell 2.5 basis points to 4.044%, while the benchmark 10-year yield eased 0.6 basis points to 4.587%. Despite the modest pullback in yields, investors remain cautious around the outlook for central bank policy should inflationary pressures persist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US dollar also softened against the majors following several sessions of strong gains, with the US Dollar Index declining 0.30% to 98.99 as traders reduced defensive positioning slightly after the easing in Middle East tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commodity markets remained volatile throughout the session. Oil prices initially surged to fresh monthly highs before giving back some gains later in the day as traders weighed the reduced immediate risk of supply disruption. Brent crude finished little changed, slipping 0.05% to settle at $109.19 per barrel, while WTI crude rose a further 1.75% to $107.51. Gold prices also pushed higher, with the precious metal gaining 0.58% to $4,566.67 as the dollar pulled back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>All Eyes Back on the Middle East<br \/><\/strong>Global market headlines last week saw a brief divergence from the Middle East as President Trump and his delegation made their trip to China; however, focus is firmly back on the Iran-US conflict at the start of this trading week. News that fresh negotiations are taking place \u2014 delaying a planned US attack \u2014 led to a small recovery rally in some markets overnight, with major currencies in general gaining at the expense of the dollar as some haven flows receded. However, other markets are now treating these updates with a more \u2018glass half empty\u2019 approach as investors seek clarity on a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Expect more volatility in the sessions ahead today, but for now, it seems that oil prices will remain elevated and stocks vulnerable until we see confirmation, and then actual proof, that the Strait is back open and marine traffic is flowing again in significant numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>UK and Canadian Markets in Focus Later in the Trading Day<br \/><\/strong>Attention in the coming sessions will remain firmly focused on developments out of the Middle East, although traders will also be closely monitoring several key economic releases today. In the Asian session, traders will watch the release of the RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes for further insight into the central bank\u2019s policy outlook, while, later in the day, key data out of both the UK and Canada should see volatility in local markets. The initial focus in the European session will be on UK markets, with key employment data due out. Claimant Count Change (exp +23.1k), Average Earnings Index (exp 3.8% 3m\/y), and Unemployment Rate figures (exp 4.9%) will be released, with markets expecting to see moves in the pound around the event. Meanwhile, the North American session will feature Canadian CPI data (exp +0.7% m\/m, +2.6% y\/y) alongside US Pending Home Sales numbers (exp 1.0%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Explore all upcoming market events in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tradingview.com\/economic-calendar\/\" title=\"\">Economic Calendar.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Stocks Mixed as Trump Holds Off Attack \u2013 Nasdaq down [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":86382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[463],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86432,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86381\/revisions\/86432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}