Stocks Climb, Oil Falls on US-Iran Talk Reports: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Hopes that the US and Iran will be back to the negotiating table drove stocks toward all-time highs, with the market also gaining after a blowout forecast from Intel Corp. and the closing of a probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The advance put the S&P 500 on track for its fourth straight week of gains, its longest winning run since October 2024. President Donald Trump will send US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this weekend, CNN reported, citing two administration officials. US crude dropped to $93.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is due in Islamabad on Friday and a second round of peace talks with the US and Iran is expected, according to officials in Pakistan familiar with the matter. He’ll convey Tehran’s considerations in ending the war, Tasnim news agency said.
“Part of the reason for the bounce is due to the news that Pakistan is saying that talks could resume between the US and Iran as soon as today,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak. “A further rally in the tech sector is also helping the markets.”
Bond yields fell as the Justice Department’s decision on Powell potentially cleared a path to Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as the next Fed leader, with traders boosting bets on rate cuts.
Global tech shares were also buoyed as SAP SE reported revenue growth from its cloud services that beat analysts’ estimates while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. soared after Taiwan’s financial regulator eased limits on single-stock fund holdings.
Meantime, Google will invest $10 billion in Anthropic PBC, with another $30 billion potentially to follow. Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have struck a multibillion-dollar deal for the social-media giant to rent hundreds of thousands of Amazon’s general-purpose chips for its AI efforts.
Technology stocks were among the market’s biggest losers during the peak of the Middle East conflict in March. So speculation that the worst is over sent traders gorging both on the megacap shares and the options betting on more upside. To Bank of America Corp.’s derivatives strategists, that signals a melt-up is in the offing that risks a painful unwind should the selloff resume.
“It’s a statement to us that the fear of missing upside seems to outweigh the fear of downside,” said Nitin Saksena, BofA’s head of equity derivatives research. “That’s kind of the psychological lens through which people seem to be approaching the market.”
On the economic front, US consumer sentiment fell in April from a month earlier to a record low, reflecting worries around the economic fallout from the Iran war.
Corporate Highlights:
Procter & Gamble Co. reported stronger-than-expected results for its latest quarter, but warned that rising oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East could lead to additional costs of $1 billion in its next fiscal year. Eli Lilly & Co.’s new weight-loss pill Foundayo has gotten off to a sluggish start, according to new prescription data, an early sign of the challenge the drugmaker will have as it tries to catch up with rival Novo Nordisk A/S. HCA Healthcare Inc. opted against raising its yearly profit and sales guidance even though first quarter profit beat analysts’ views, meaning it could foresee challenges later in the year. SLB, the world’s largest oilfield service provider, reported first-quarter results that fell short of analysts’ expectations as the Iran war upends the global energy sector. Newmont Corp. plans to repurchase $6 billion in shares as the world’s largest gold producer seeks to reward investors amid an unprecedented rally in bullion prices. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 11:56 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.7% The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6% The MSCI World Index rose 0.4% Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index rose 4.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1718 The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3518 The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 159.35 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $78,032.27 Ether fell 0.1% to $2,322.98 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.30% Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.99% Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.91% The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined six basis points to 3.78% The yield on 30-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.90% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.9% to $93.03 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.7% to $4,728.79 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
