- Talks between Iran and the US are showing progress, but key disputes remain.
- US crude oil falls below $100 per barrel.
- Financial interest rates fall on hopes of a peace agreement.
Oil prices fell and stocks rose on Thursday as investors were upbeat about possible progress in peace talks on the Middle East war, even as the United States and Iran remained at odds over Tehran’s uranium stockpile and control of the Strait of Hormuz.
This is according to a senior Iranian source Reuters no deal has been reached with the US but the gaps have narrowed, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there had been “some good signs” in the talks but any payments system in the strait would be unacceptable.
US President Donald Trump said the US will eventually recover Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Oil prices had been higher earlier in the day, while the major US stock indexes were all lower afterwards Reuters reported that Iran’s supreme leader has issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be shipped abroad.
US Treasury yields were lower in the afternoon on hopes of progress on the peace deal. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR was last down 0.8 basis points on the day to 4.575%. It hit its highest level since January 2025 on Tuesday.
The war, which began on February 28, has sent energy prices skyrocketing and sparked concerns about higher inflation and consumer spending.
US crude CLc1 fell $1.91 to settle at $96.35. Brent LCOc1 declined $2.44 to settle at $102.58.
“Oil is down and under $100, and that’s a good thing,” said Adam Sarhan, managing director of 50 Park Investments in New York. But also, Sarhan said, investors have been optimistic about the outlook for stocks, particularly in technology.
Shares in Nvidia, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, fell 1.8% as investors took profits after recent sharp gains. Nvidia late Wednesday reported earnings that beat Wall Street expectations and announced an $80 billion share buyback program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 276.31 points, or 0.55%, to 50,285.66, the S&P 500 rose 12.75 points, or 0.17%, to 7,445.72 and the Nasdaq Composite added 22.74 points, or 0.209%, to 0.209.
MSCI’s measure of global shares rose 5.24 points, or 0.48%, to 1,106.89. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.04%.
Shares of IBM rose 12.4% on news that the Trump administration will fund a handful of quantum computing companies, including a new IBM project, in exchange for shares in some of the firms.
Shares of D-Wave Quantum and other quantum computer stocks also rose.
“When you look at the normal economic environment around this market, you would expect (stocks) to be lower, but if you believe that the war is going to end soon — that we’re at a temporary high in terms of energy prices, it pushes you to look not only at the underlying earnings that have been good, but also the earnings potential that’s coming from AI,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investment.
SpaceX unveiled its initial public offering late Wednesday, giving the market its first glimpse of how much billionaire Elon Musk is spending on AI as he moves to transform the rocket maker into a broader AI-led business.
Investors also followed developments in Turkiye. Trading on Turkey’s stock market was temporarily halted after sharp falls and government bonds fell after one of the country’s top courts dealt the main political opposition party the latest blow.
The court annulled the 2023 congress of the Republican People’s Party, where its chairman, Ozgur Ozel, was elected.
The US-traded iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund fell 9.2 per cent.
The dollar index was flat late Thursday as traders weighed the likelihood of a near-term deal to end the war, after hitting a six-week high.
The dollar index USD= , which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was unchanged on the day at 99.13, with the euro EUR= down 0.03% to $1.1624.
Spot gold XAU= fell 0.04% to $4,541.79 an ounce.
