'No deal with Iran': Trump demands unconditional surrender, sending oil surging, bitcoin and stocks lower

• Already higher on the day, WTI crude oil extended gains to 11% after President Donald Trump said there will be “no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender."
• U.S. stock index futures extended losses, with the Nasdaq lower by 1.8%.
• Bitcoin (BTC) also added to earlier declines, now down 5% to $68,800.

Risk markets are taking new legs lower on Friday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump seemingly quashed any chance of some sort of negotiated settlement with Iran.

"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER," said the president in a Truth Social post.

The news sent WTI crude oil to a multi-year high near $90 per barrel, and in turn sent Nasdaq futures lower by 1.8%. That hit crypto prices as well, pushing bitcoin to new session lows, down 5% at $68,800.

Economy softens

U.S. payrolls unexpectedly declined by 92,000 jobs in February, highlighting a cooling U.S. labor market just as rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions complicate the Federal Reserve's outlook. The unemployment rate also ticked higher to 4.4% from 4.3% the previous month.

The weak report reinforces a broader slowdown in hiring that has been building over the past year.

“Let me put this another way: The U.S. economy has lost jobs since April 2025,” economist Heather Long wrote on X. “Total job gains from May 2025 to February 2026 are now -19,000. Companies are not hiring in the face of all of these headwinds and uncertainty.”

Normally, data like this would have the Federal Reserve busily cutting rates, but the central bank continues to face inflation that remains above its 2% target, and the sharp rise in oil threatens to worsen the price outlook.

For the moment, interest rate traders continue to bet on little chance for an imminent rate cut. The odds of a March cut are just 4% and an April cut only 17%.

• Disrupting a Stagnant Market: Pudgy Penguins is utilizing a "Negative CAC" model to challenge the traditional $31.7B licensed toy industry by treating physical merchandise as a profitable user acquisition tool rather than just a final product.

• Despite a wave of "crypto-native" wins — like BNY Mellon acting as an ETF custodian and Kraken gaining Fed payment access — Bitcoin is increasingly ignoring positive industry news to follow global trends, such as the U.S. dollar index and interest rates.
• The same Wall Street adoption the industry spent years chasing has tightly coupled bitcoin with the Nasdaq, leading to a selloff in crypto right alongside tech stocks.
• While the price is currently stuck in a downward grind, the plumbing of the industry is becoming more robust, with heavyweights like ICE investing in exchanges and the White House encouraging banks to work with the sector.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.