US Strike on Iran Coincides With Market Rebound as Bitcoin, Ether and Crypto Stocks Climb

U.S. military forces carried out a strike against Iran on February 28 and, in the early hours of March 1 Beijing Time, confirmed the successful "decapitation" of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, according to BlockBeats. Although traders had expected the action to pressure risk assets, major U.S. equity indices initially opened lower, with the Dow down 1.15%, the S&P 500 off 1.07% and the Nasdaq falling 1.5%, before both stocks and crypto assets reversed higher after the U.S. market opened. Bitcoin later gained 5% to $68,699 and Ethereum rose 6.25% to $2,035, while the S&P 500 added 0.23%, the Nasdaq advanced 0.14% and the Dow increased 0.25%, and crypto-related stocks also moved higher, including Circle (CRCL) up 11.35%, Strategy (MSTR) up 5.43%, Bitmine (BMNR) up 7.72% and FIGR (Figure) up 12.62%. BlockBeats noted that a previous comparable U.S. operation involving the abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro took place during the U.S. market holiday closure on Saturday, January 3, after which U.S. stocks rose when trading resumed on Monday.