(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is leaving the White House early on Friday after a contentious Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, a White House official said.
Zelenskiy is “not ready for Peace if America is involved,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday, following a contentious meeting between the leaders in the Oval Office.
“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” Trump said.
The S&P 500 erased modest gains then seesawed after headlines to stand off 0.07%. The euro extended a slight loss and was off 0.3%.
COMMENTS:
RICK MECKLER, PARTNER, CHERRY LANE INVESTMENTS, NEW VERNON, NEW JERSEY
“I don’t think it hurt the market so much because of what he had to say, but the unconventional nature of it raised the issue for investors of how unpredictable and uncertain the Trump administration can be. The market likes certainty. It likes a plan. There are so many things happening in this government at once – all of which are to some extent groundbreaking – and this just added one more feature to it. So that’s where the market (took a) leg down a little bit, thinking this is just a sign of a lack of predictability and more traditional approaches to diplomacy.”
DAVID WAGNER, HEAD OF EQUITIES AT APTUS CAPITAL ADVISORS IN FAIRHOPE, ALABAMA
“The S&P 500 is starting to see its first pullback of 2025. On the surface, the S&P is -5% off the highs, but there’s been dramatic moves underneath the hood of the index. The point here is: much of the motion looks driven by “positioning unwinds” versus “fundamental distress”. And looking at this past quarter’s earnings season helps us validate that thought, as the spread between the Mag 7 and remaining 493 earnings saw its most narrow gap since Q1 2023.
“But, now that earnings season is essentially over now that NVDA is behind us, I’d expect a lot of policy out of Washington DC to dictate some near term volatility in the market. “
JACK MCINTYRE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BRANDYWINE GLOBAL, PHILADELPHIA
“It’s disturbing, but maybe this is part of Trump’s way of negotiating … A big driving force of markets now is uncertainty on a lot of different levels, and this is just another part of that. It looked like we were moving towards progress on a peace deal or a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and maybe now that gets to come on hold, so you have to price in a little bit more uncertainty. We’re not doing anything, we’re going to let the dust settle.”
