FT: In the 15 minutes before Trump posted about the Iran negotiations, traders placed $580 million bets in the oil market.

Between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. New York time on Monday, approximately 6,200 Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts were traded, with a notional value of $580 million. About 15 minutes later, US President Trump posted on Truth Social that he had recently had a "productive conversation" with Iran. Following the post at 7:04 a.m., global energy markets experienced a sharp sell-off, while S&P 500 futures and European stock markets rose. Trading volume in Brent crude and WTI futures jumped simultaneously in the 27 seconds before 6:50 a.m., and S&P 500 futures prices also rose within seconds of the oil trade. It remains unclear whether Monday's trading was driven by a single entity or multiple entities. White House spokesman Kush Desai stated that the White House does not tolerate any officials profiting illegally from insider information and called it irresponsible reporting to suggest officials were involved in such activities without evidence. Several hedge funds have pointed to numerous cases in recent months of large transactions being made before official announcements from the US government. One hedge fund trader stated that energy advisors have recently noticed several large transactions with unusual timing. Following Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf's subsequent denial on the X platform of any negotiations between Washington and Tehran, global stock markets retreated, and buying activity returned to the energy market. (Financial Times)