What Markets Are Telling Us About The Duration Of The Middle East Conflict

FTSE Russell1.06K FollowersFollow5ShareSavePlay(13min)CommentsSummaryEquity option skew and oil futures curves provide a useful pulse for the market's expectation of the speed of resolution of the conflict. This insight explains how we are viewing them.Russell 2000 skew was slow to price downside risk, and very quickly priced in de-escalation after President Trump’s Truth Social post on March 23.Although with news flow dominating price action, markets have become more volatile, and this is a moving target. TexBr/iStock via Getty Images By David McNay, CFA, Director, Global Investment Research Is the conflict in the Middle East over? Because after Donald Trump’s March 23rd[1] on Truth Social, the Russell 2000 options market was ready to price de-escalation.This article was written byFTSE Russell1.06K FollowersFollowFTSE Russell is a leading global provider of index and benchmark solutions, spanning diverse asset classes and investment objectives. As a trusted investment partner we help investors make better-informed investment decisions, manage risk, and seize opportunities.Market participants look to us for our expertise in developing and managing global index solutions across asset classes. Asset owners, asset managers, ETF providers and investment banks choose FTSE Russell solutions to benchmark their investment performance and create investment funds, ETFs, structured products, and index-based derivatives. Our clients use our solutions for asset allocation, investment strategy analysis and risk management, and value us for our robust governance process and operational integrity.For over 40 years we have been at the forefront of driving change for the investor, always innovating to shape the next generation of benchmarks and investment solutions that open up new opportunities for the global investment community.