Stocks Hit All-Time Highs on Hopes War Is Near End: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks climbed around the world, joining gains in bonds as oil retreated on hopes the US and Iran are nearing a deal to end a war that has jolted markets and clouded the economic outlook.
Stronger risk appetite drove equities to record highs, lifting the S&P 500 by 1.5%. Solid corporate earnings also buoyed sentiment, with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. leading a rally in chipmakers. US crude settled around $95, easing inflation concerns. Gold jumped. Treasury yields slipped as bets on Federal Reserve rate hikes receded. The dollar fell to pre-war levels.
The US and Iran were circling around a fresh proposal to end a nearly 10-week conflict. Washington presented a memorandum of understanding that would gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the blockade on ports, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t, and they’ve agreed to that, among other things,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ve had very good talks,” he said, “and it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal.”
Trump said the war has “a very good chance of ending” and there’s a possibility that happens before his trip to Beijing next week, according to an interview with PBS News Hour. China’s top diplomat called for the swift reopening of Hormuz in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart.
“We remain on the path towards de-escalation, and towards an end to the conflict,” said Michael Brown at Pepperstone. “While that path is clearly a rough one, so long as we remain on it, and the direction of travel remains a more optimistic one, then risk appetite should remain underpinned.”
Iran has laid out an updated process for ships seeking to transit Hormuz, but several shipowners said they remained cautious about sending their vessels through the waterway. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said “safe, stable passage” will be possible with “new protocols in place.”
Investors also parsed the latest economic data ahead of Friday’s jobs report. US companies boosted payrolls in April by the most in over a year, the latest evidence of stabilization in the labor market.
Fed Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem said there’s uncertainty over the future path for the economy and monetary policy, but he sees risks rising more for inflation than for employment. His Chicago counterpart Austan Goolsbee warned against reflexively lowering rates in response to faster productivity growth, as the phenomenon can sometimes drive up prices.
Meantime, the Treasury signaled it’s comfortable issuing the shortest-dated debt to meet escalating government borrowing needs. It anticipates keeping nominal note and bond sale sizes unchanged “for at least the next several quarters.”
Corporate Highlights:
Nvidia Corp. bought $500 million worth of rights for shares in the fiber-optic cable maker Corning Inc. as part of a broader partnership between the two companies aimed at expanding artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Anthropic PBC has signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bolster computing resources and meet surging demand for its Claude AI software. Arm Holdings Plc disappointed investors with its sales forecast for the current quarter, signaling that the chip designer’s push into AI infrastructure is still in the early stages. Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro has surpassed Merck & Co.’s cancer therapy Keytruda as the world’s best-selling medication. Walt Disney Co. posted stronger results than Wall Street expected thanks to improved profitability at its streaming business, new Avatar and Zootopia movies, and guests spending more at the company’s resorts and on cruises. What Bloomberg strategists say…
“A positive feedback loop fueled by AI earnings optimism and falling volatility will reinforce flows to sustain the S&P 500 rally. If geopolitical worries ebb further, support is likely to shift from single-stock acceleration to volatility compression.”
—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.1% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% The MSCI World Index rose 1.6% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5% The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1748 The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3592 The Japanese yen rose 1% to 156.38 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $81,539.7 Ether fell 1.2% to $2,352.35 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined seven basis points to 4.35% Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.00% Britain’s 10-year yield declined 12 basis points to 4.94% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.9% to $95.17 a barrel Spot gold rose 3% to $4,694.57 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
