NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hitting new highs on Wednesday. large gathering Over the past two weeks, hopes have grown that the global economy can avoid the worst-case scenario. war between usa and iran.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% in morning trading, at one point on track to surpass its all-time high set in January. As of 10:05 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 174 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%.
The U.S. bond market also remained relatively stable as intermediaries approached deadline extensions. ceasefire Negotiations between the US and Iran have resumed before the deal expires next week.
rear nearly 10% below record The S&P 500 was up about 10% in late March, when it fell so sharply that Wall Street called it a “correction.” The move was largely based on hopes that tensions from the war would subside and the full flow of oil from Persian Gulf producers to customers around the world would resume. Strait of Hormuz.
When those expectations are betrayed, what happened before If there is a war, stock prices could easily resume their decline. Oil prices fluctuated up and down on Wednesday, showing that there is still a sense of caution in financial markets.
The price of international standard Brent crude oil remained unchanged at $94.79 per barrel. That’s still well above the pre-war price of about $70, but down from its peak of $119 when concerns about fighting were at its height.
But even if the U.S.-Iran negotiations go ahead and are successful, the war could be just a temporary setback for the global economy rather than a new normal of sky-high oil prices and inflation. And as a result, investors may finally be able to focus their attention back on what matters most to stock prices: money.
Even though day-to-day noise can influence investor opinion, stock prices tend to move in line with corporate profits over the long term. And before the war began, stock markets around the world were showing positive trends. Analysts also expect continued growth, at least for now.
Bank of America rose 1.2% on Wednesday, saying it had a profit of $8.6 billion in the first three months of this year. This was a 17% increase over the previous year and exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said the bank is seeing signs of a “resilient U.S. economy,” including strong spending by U.S. consumers. The trends were positive enough that the Bank had less funds set aside to cover potential credit losses during the quarter compared to the same period last year.
Morgan Stanley rose 4.3% after the investment bank also reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Companies that were hit early in the year by concerns about artificial intelligence technology also rose to recoup more losses heading into 2026. Some concerns revolved around the large amounts of money companies could spend building AI capabilities, while others focused on businesses that could become obsolete due to AI-enabled competition.
This concern has become so serious that it has shocked private credit companies that lend to software companies and other companies that may not be able to repay their debts because of AI.
ServiceNow rose 6.1%, Oracle rose 4.7% and Ares Management rose 4.8%, accounting for some of the market’s larger gains. Both prices are still down 12-40% year-to-date.
Nike rose 2.7% after Nike CEO Elliot Hill and Tim Cook, a Nike board member and Apple CEO, said they had bought a combined 48,000 shares of the athletic shoe maker’s stock for about $1 million each. Nike stock is still down nearly 29% this year.
Wall Street’s loser was PNC Financial Services Group. The company fell 0.8% after a mixed quarterly report in which profits beat analysts’ estimates but sales fell short.
In overseas stock markets, indexes were mixed in Europe due to slight gains in Asia.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose slightly to 4.27% from 4.26% late Tuesday.
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AP Business writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
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This version corrects the Nike CEO’s last name, Hill.
