TRADING DAY Peace beckons ... again

Wall Street staged its biggest bounce in two months on Thursday. The S&P 500 surged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite also posted sharp gains. Oil prices tumbled. Bond yields dropped. The moves followed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel planned strikes on Iran. Trump said a peace deal could be signed as soon as this weekend.

The rally reversed a week of risk-off positioning built on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions. Money rotated out of safe havens and into equities. The 10-year Treasury yield fell. Crude oil declined sharply, reflecting a reduced risk premium tied to potential supply disruptions in the Middle East.

In currency markets, the dollar weakened broadly. The euro rose. The yen strengthened. The Mexican peso gained, tracking the broader emerging-market rally. Gold, which had rallied earlier in the week on safe-haven flows, slipped. Bitcoin rose, extending its recent correlation with risk assets.

The next catalyst is the weekend. Trump provided no details on the terms of a prospective deal. Previous rounds of U.S.-Iran talks have collapsed. The Friday close will test whether the risk-on move holds through the weekend. If the peace timeline slips, the safe-haven bid could return just as quickly.