even if a tentative truce seemed to fray under fire in the morning. The S&P 500 was 0.7 per cent higher in early trading, following up on even bigger gains for stocks across Europe and Asia, after President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israel and Iran had agreed to a "complete and total ceasefire." The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 289 points, or 0.7 per cent, as of 9:31 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9 per cent higher. The strongest action was again in the oil market, where a barrel of benchmark US oil fell 4.9 per cent to $65.12. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 4.8 per cent to $67.14.

The fear throughout the Israel-Iran conflict has been that it could squeeze the world's supply of oil, which would pump up prices for gasoline and hurt the global economy. Iran is a major producer of crude, and it could also try to block the Strait of Hormuz off its coast, through which 20 per cent of the world's daily oil needs passes on ships. But oil prices began falling sharply on Monday after Iran launched what appeared to be a limited retaliatory strike that did not target the production or movement of oil. They kept falling even after attacks continued past a deadline to stop hostilities early Tuesday. Trump would later said that the ceasefire was "in effect." Oil prices have dropped so much in the last two days that they're below where they were before the fighting began nearly two weeks ago. With the global oil market well supplied and the OPEC+ alliance of producing countries steadily increasing production, oil prices could be headed even lower as long as the ceasefire holds and a lasting peace solution can be found, said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank. (Jamaica Gleaner)