Wall Street erases losses after Donald Trump quits Iran nuclear deal

Wall Street cut losses to end little changed on Tuesday while energy stocks rallied after US President Donald Trump said the United States would quit the Iran nuclear deal, confirming what many investors had expected.

In a televised speech, Trump said the United States would withdraw from a 2015 international agreement designed to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons, and also reinstate sanctions on Iran.

The S&P energy sector erased earlier losses to end the day up 0.78 per cent as oil prices reduced earlier declines on bets that the sanctions would disrupt global crude supplies.

"You have seem some modest flight to quality, though it hasn't been major," said Brian Daingerfield, macro strategist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut. "There's still quite a bit of uncertainty about the future of the deal even now that the U.S. has made its intentions clear."

Trump squandered prospect of peaceful reform in Iran: Former CIA Director

Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan has slammed United States President Donald Trump's administration for its hard-line stance toward Iran, saying it has diminished the possibility of peaceful political change there.

"With wholesale condemnation of Iran and nuclear deal over past year, Trump Admin squandered the opportunity to bolster reformists in Tehran and prospects for peaceful political reform in Iran. Bluster is neither a strategy nor a mechanism for the exercise of US power and influence," Brennan tweeted on Tuesday.



With wholesale condemnation of Iran and nuclear deal over past year, Trump Admin squandered opportunity to bolster reformists in Tehran and prospects for peaceful political reform in Iran. Bluster is neither a strategy nor a mechanism for exercise of U.S. power and influence.

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) January 2, 2018


Brennan served as CIA director during the Obama administration.

Trump dubbed the Iranian regime as "brutal" and "corrupt" and also purported that the money was given to Iran by Barack Obama, when he was the American president "went into terrorism and into their 'pockets.'"
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