Wall Street moved toward its all-time high Tuesday as oil prices eased and diplomacy progress raised investor hopes that the United States and Iran could pursue fresh talks. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, pushing to a level that left it 0.2% under its January record, while the Dow gained 317 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq added 2%.
The market’s momentum followed international gains as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange another round of U.S.-Iran talks, according to the report. Analysts and investors have tied recent swings in risk appetite to the prospect that any progress toward ending the war could prevent a prolonged regime of higher oil prices and renewed inflation pressure that could damage the global economy.
Energy markets played a key role in Tuesday’s shift. Brent crude for June delivery fell 4.6% to settle at $94.79, the report said, which remained above about $70 per barrel seen before the war began in late February but sat far below the $119 peak reached when fears tied to the conflict and shipping risks were at their highest.
Much of the stress since the war began has been linked to the Strait of Hormuz, described in the report as a narrow waterway that serves as the main route for Persian Gulf crude to reach customers. When blockages threaten supply through the strait, crude stays off the global market, which tends to push prices higher, and investors have responded with abrupt repricing when hopes and fears alternate.
Investors also had a new inflation datapoint to weigh as markets opened higher. The report said wholesale inflation in the United States accelerated to 4% in March from 3.4% in February, citing data released Tuesday; it also said the figure came in better than economists’ expected 4.6% rate, helping ease concerns even as the rate remained elevated.
The report tied the inflation backdrop to broader global expectations as well. It said the International Monetary Fund expects global inflation this year to accelerate to 4.4% from 4.1% in 2025, and said the IMF downgraded its forecast for global economic growth to 3.1% for 2026 from 3.3% it had projected in January.
Despite the macro uncertainty, the report said stock performance was supported by corporate results and profit expectations. It said strong earnings reports helped offset worries, and cited FactSet forecasts that S&P 500 companies are expected to report solid growth of more than 12% for the most recent quarter. Morgan Stanley strategists, the report said, have raised their estimates for S&P 500 profits over the first six months of the year since the war began.
In individual company trading, BlackRock gained 3% and Citigroup rose 2.6% after financial companies reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected, while JPMorgan Chase shares dipped 0.8% after results that topped expectations. The report said JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon commented that bank officials cannot predict how an “increasingly complex set of risks” will play out given so much uncertainty.
The rally also spread into sectors that have been sensitive to technology-driven disruption and credit risk. The report said Amazon climbed 3.8% after announcing it would buy Globalstar for $90 per share, sending Globalstar up 9.6%, and that software stocks rose for a second day after earlier losses linked to concerns about artificial intelligence. It also said private-credit firms recovered as investors who had sought to pull out funds moved back in, with Blue Owl Capital rising 8.5%, Ares Management climbing 5.6% and Apollo Global Management up 4.4%, while Wells Fargo fell 5.7% after weaker-than-expected revenue.
Outside the United States, the report said indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia, including South Korea’s Kospi up 2.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 2.4%. In bond trading, the report said Treasury yields eased as lower oil prices took some pressure off inflation, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to 4.25% from 4.30% late Monday.
As markets leaned into the possibility that diplomacy might reduce worst-case risks, Wednesday’s focus—at least for now—shifted toward whether corporate profit growth can sustain the rally. In the near term, the report indicated, oil’s decline and the inflation print offered enough relief for investors to test whether the market could keep moving closer to record levels.