U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press before departing the White House for Miami on March 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
Celal Gunes | Anadolu | Getty Images
Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
Global markets are seeing some reprieve in the fourth week of the Iran war, after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled some positive discussions with Tehran and told CNBC that he is ‘very intent on making a deal.’
The softer tone is likely to raise hopes of de-escalation in the conflict, and appears to be an off-ramp from Trump’s threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants if Tehran didn’t fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Monday.
What you need to know today
Markets staged a sharp rebound on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say that the U.S. and Iran had held “productive conversations” and that he was halting strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 600 points, while equities in Europe also bounced back on hopes that the Middle East conflict — which had driven oil prices higher and fueled recession fears — may be nearing a resolution. Oil prices fell sharply, with Brent Crude dropping nearly 11% on the news.
Still, the optimism came despite a cloud of uncertainty. Iranian state media, citing an unnamed “senior security official,” denied any talks had taken place, contradicting Trump’s description of events and raising questions about how durable the market rally may be.
Interestingly, markets appeared to move even before Trump’s Truth Social Post signaled de-escalation, with the S&P 500 futures and oil futures flashing an unusual burst of activity early Monday, minutes before a market-moving social media post from President Donald Trump. The activity stood out from an otherwise subdued premarket backdrop.
After Trump’s Truth Social post, he confirmed with CNBC’s Joe Kernen in a phone call that the U.S. was “very intent on making a deal with Iran.”
The Trump administration’s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also spoke to CNBC on Monday, saying that a number of Asian countries want to buy more U.S. energy to reduce their dependence on oil and gas exports from the Middle East, though that has not been confirmed.
With the conflict having disrupted much of the world’s oil supplies, markets remain highly sensitive to any headline suggesting either escalation or diplomacy.
And finally…
OpenAI calls out Microsoft reliance as risk in investor document ahead of expected IPO
In a document that resembles an IPO prospectus, OpenAI said its close ties with Microsoft could be a potential risk to its business, telling investors that the software company is responsible for “a substantial portion of our financing and compute.”
OpenAI included sections titled “Risks Related to the Transaction” and “Risks Related to our Business” in a financial document, viewed by CNBC, that the company shared with prospective investors tied to its recent record financing round.
— Lora Kolodny, Ashley Capoot