Iran's Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, presided over a meeting in Tehran while wearing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uniform. Strategists from Bank of America have advised investors to maintain hedging positions as a precaution against Iran potentially adopting a "scorched earth" response. On Monday, crude oil markets experienced significant volatility, with Dow Jones futures reversing from a decline of over 1,000 points to a gain of 200 points, resulting in substantial profits for traders who bought during the dip. However, the equity derivatives strategy team at Bank of America, led by Nitin Saksena, believes it is premature to celebrate. "Iran's regime is strengthening hardline leadership and has already severed relations with neighboring countries; assuming the crisis has passed carries risks. A scorched earth strategy aimed at maximizing economic damage and shocking financial markets might still be their most potent tool," they stated. The strategists noted that last week's sharp market declines were concentrated in sectors that had previously seen strong gains, such as U.S. materials, emerging market equities, and metals and mining. "These developments highlight how periods of high uncertainty can amplify market momentum and reflexivity, driving prices away from fundamentals and making the most crowded trades—typically those with high Bubble Risk Indicator readings—highly vulnerable to sharp reversals due to positioning adjustments and sentiment shifts," they explained. The Bubble Risk Indicator condenses an asset's returns, volatility, momentum, and vulnerability into a single score between 0 and 1, with 1 indicating extreme bubble-like price behavior. On Tuesday, U.S. stock index futures rose, while crude oil futures experienced another significant decline. This occurred a day after former President Donald Trump made ambiguous remarks regarding the duration of the conflict, and Iran launched a new round of attacks against Israel and Gulf states.