Stocks rushed higher worldwide on Wednesday as oil prices eased, lifting investor expectations that the war with Iran could end sooner than markets had feared. The advance came even as some of the hopeful signals investors latched onto earlier were already being disputed and the fighting continued.
In the United States, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and added to its prior-session jump, which had been its best since last spring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 224 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.2%, extending a rebound that followed earlier swings tied to the war’s outlook.
Oil prices fell back toward the $100-a-barrel level after Trump said late Tuesday that the U.S. military could end its offensive in two to three weeks. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was sitting around $101 after declines, but it remained well above levels from before the war began, which the report pegged at about $70.
The rally also built on earlier Tuesday optimism tied to signals that appeared to point toward a possible off-ramp. The report cited a news report quoting Iran’s president as saying it had “the necessary will to end the war” so long as certain requirements were met, including “guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression.”
However, hopes moved quickly, and Wall Street’s anxiety about a prolonged war remained in the background. Investors had worried the conflict could keep oil and natural gas out of the Persian Gulf and trigger a “brutal” blast of inflation, while earlier rounds of market optimism had been undercut by continued “fierce fighting.”
Shortly before trading began on Wednesday, Trump claimed in a post on his social media network that Iran “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” The post also said, “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear,” adding that until then the U.S. would be “blasting Iran into oblivion” or “back to the Stone Ages!!!”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, quickly rejected the claim, calling it “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television. The dispute underscored why some de-escalation signals that can move markets remain contested as events evolve.
Beyond trading screens, the report described continued military activity: Iran hit an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar, and Kuwait’s airport, while airstrikes battered Tehran. Iran also continued to hold influence over the Strait of Hormuz, through which the report said a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes during peacetime.
In markets, big technology helped power the move higher. Three out of every five stocks in the S&P 500 rose, with Alphabet gaining 3.4% and Nvidia rising 0.8% among the strongest contributors to the index. Eli Lilly rallied 3.8% after U.S. regulators approved its GLP-1 pill for weight loss.
Energy stocks moved lower along with crude prices. Exxon Mobil fell 5.2% and Chevron dropped 4.6%. The report also highlighted company-specific moves elsewhere, including Nike’s 15.5% decline after it reported a quarterly profit above expectations but gave “lackluster” financial forecasts.
Overseas, indexes jumped more than 2% in France and Germany, while Asian markets had larger gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 5.2% after a survey showed business sentiment for major Japanese manufacturers improved despite worries about the Iran war.
Bond markets were also watched as the rally took shape. Treasury yields held relatively steady after reports on U.S. retail and manufacturing activity, with the 10-year yield rising to 4.32% from 4.30% late Tuesday. Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, said de-escalation hopes gave markets a lift but that the effects of the war could persist even if it ended very soon.
The White House said Trump would deliver a public address Wednesday evening on the Iran war. The AP’s report said the gains brought the S&P 500 back to within 5.8% of its all-time high set earlier this year, after the index had briefly neared a 10% drop from its record—an often-described threshold for a “correction.”