Wall Street opened the day in a broadly upbeat mood, with the S&P 500 jumping to another high and the Dow and Nasdaq also pushing upward, as investors digested early-2026 corporate results that outpaced expectations. In the AP report, the rally gathered pace after companies including GE Vernova and Boston Scientific posted results for the year’s first quarter that exceeded what analysts had anticipated, helping propel what the report described as a streak of strong performances despite the war with Iran keeping investors alert to macroeconomic risks.
The day’s market momentum was also tied to how much of the S&P 500’s membership had already delivered quarterly results ahead of analysts’ forecasts, the AP said. It pointed to the index’s 13th gain in the previous 16 days, even as oil prices climbed and raised uncertainty about conditions for the broader economy.
GE Vernova stood out in the report as a major driver of the gains, rising 13.7% after reporting first-quarter profit that “blew past” analysts’ expectations. The company’s electrification business recorded $2.4 billion in equipment orders for data centers during the quarter—more than it booked during all of the prior year—and the report said GE Vernova raised its full-year forecasts for revenue and other financial measures.
Other large companies also participated in the rally, with Boston Scientific climbing 9%, Boeing up 5.5%, and Philip Morris International rising 7%, according to the AP account. The report said these advances followed quarterly results that were stronger than analysts expected, reinforcing a pattern of early earnings outperformance that helped keep equity demand firm.
At the same time, the AP said enthusiasm in stocks was tempered by oil, particularly Brent crude, which rose 3.5% to $101.91. The report linked the move to uncertainty about how soon the war with Iran would ease and allow petroleum to flow freely again from the Persian Gulf, and it described how the conflict has restricted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The AP said Iran fired on three ships in the strait and seized two of them on Wednesday. It added that, a day earlier, President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire but said he was maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports, a move the report said is intended to prevent Iran from earning money by selling its own crude oil—raising doubts about when or if talks would resume to end the crisis.
Beyond the immediate shipping disruption, the AP report said Brent has surged from about $70 per barrel before the war began, reflecting worries about a longer-term disruption to oil flow. It also said recent moves in both oil and stocks had become more modest in recent weeks after “vicious swings,” during which Brent briefly topped $119 and the S&P 500 dropped nearly 10% below its prior all-time high.
Corporate news mixed the broader tape as some stocks moved against the prevailing trend. The AP report said Best Buy fell 4.6% after it announced the departure of CEO Corie Barry and said she would be replaced by longtime insider Jason Bonfig, the company’s chief customer, product and fulfillment officer.
The AP report also described gains among cannabis-related companies tied to reporting that the Trump administration is preparing to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. It said Trump signed an executive order in December aimed at speeding the Drug Enforcement Administration’s process to reclassify the drug; the AP report noted that such a change would not make recreational marijuana legal nationwide but could shift how it is regulated and reduce what it called a “hefty tax burden” for the cannabis industry, and it cited Tilray Brands up 14.2% and Canopy Growth up 20.2%.
In the broad market totals, the AP said the S&P 500 rose 73.89 points to 7,137.90, the Dow added 340.65 points to 49,490.03, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 397.60 to 24,657.57. Abroad, the AP said European indexes fell after mixed results in Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.4% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.2%.
In bonds, the AP said Treasury yields held relatively steady despite oil’s rise, and it reported the 10-year Treasury yield remaining at 4.30%—a level consistent with the FRED vintage figure for that date.