Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is leaving the White House early on Friday after a contentious Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, a White House official said.
Zelenskiy is “not ready for Peace if America is involved,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday, following a contentious meeting between the leaders in the Oval Office.
“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.
The S&P 500 briefly dipped then rallied back to close 1.5% higher at 5,954.50. The euro extended a slight loss and was off 0.24% at 1.0372. In European stock futures, the Dax and CAC40 futures fell 0.6% and the Eurostoxx 50 futures dropped as much as 1.4% and were last down 0.8%.
“Twice today we saw traders come in and defend the pivotal 5840 level on the S&P, a figure that corresponds to a 5% drawdown from the peak. The first time was after monthly consumer spending posted its sharpest month-over-month decline in four years, then the index bounced back. The heated exchange between Trump and Zelenskiy took it down even further, to about 5837, at which point traders stepped in. People are seeing any broad-based drawdown as a reason to come in and buy the dips. Also, right now, the bar is pretty high when it comes to trying to startle markets. We’ve had wild swings on a number of fronts, including geopolitical incidents like this one. So folks are braced for these intraday swings. Ultimately, the market is hoping for peace between Ukraine and Russia, but how that gets done will be pivotal. Anything too one-sided favoring Moscow would be a market negative.”
“Markets will continue to be more focused on tariff policy – how much, who, when – and what it implies for business activity and consumers spending and confidence. Most U.S. investors (and voters) pay attention to what hits the pocket book closer to home and Russia/Ukraine has been just one of many global considerations on the edges for a very long time.”
“On the other hand, European markets could be more impacted given it would seem increasingly clear that Ukraine’s defense and/or dealing with Russia will be left to them”
“The market initially sold off because it was a heated and contentious conversation, which is not usually a good thing between two leaders of the world, especially when it has to do with a war. The news, if you watched it live, it was pretty worrisome. It got heated, and Zelenskiy is considered an ally of the U.S... That’s why the market sold off, but then cooler heads prevailed. Zelenskiy either is going to make a deal or he’s not, and Trump is offering him a deal. He could walk out and they could have a deal next week. But does this mean the market is going to get crushed? No. Nothing has really changed... But the market is under a lot of pressure. All of the post-election gains have been erased. That’s a big sign. And the growth stocks that were leading the market higher over the last several months have now turned lower, and there’s a big concern as we go into the weekend that there’s going to be the tariffs coming back for Canada and Mexico.”
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