S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq all climbed in morning trading, as stocks run toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains. Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped to about $86 US a barrel — still higher than the $70 before the Iran war, but lower than it has been in recent weeks.
S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq all climbed shortly after open following announcement
Stan Choe · The Associated Press
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Oil prices dropped more than 13 per cent on Friday, and U.S. stocks raced toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, allowing oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and carry crude to customers worldwide.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,061 points, or 2.2 per cent, as of 10:50 a.m. ET, while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.6 per cent higher.
The Canadian S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 278.47 points at 34,330.70.
Stocks have rallied more than 12 per cent since late March on hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy.
The apparent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which may only be temporary, is the clearest yet signal for optimism, and U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech late Thursday that the war “should be ending pretty soon.”
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude dropped sharply immediately after Iran’s foreign affairs minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on social media platform X that the passage for all commercial vessels through the strait “is declared completely open” as a 10-day ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire.
U.S. oil tumbled 13 per cent to $79.31 US per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 13.4 per cent to $86.11 per barrel.
To be sure, it remains above its $70 level from before the war, indicating some caution is still embedded in financial markets.
Several times since the war began, optimism on Wall Street has quickly swung to doubt about a possible end to the fighting. That in turn has caused sudden swings of prices for everything from stocks to bonds to oil.
Companies with big fuel bills soared to some of Wall Street’s biggest gains following the easing of oil prices.
United Airlines soared 11.2 per cent, for example. On Thursday, the head of the International Energy Agency had said that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies.
Operators of cruise ships, which guzzle fuel, also steamed higher. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 10.5 per cent, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 10.4 per cent.
A strong start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has also helped to support the U.S. stock market, and several more financial companies joined the list on Friday of companies delivering bigger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected.
State Street rose 3.6 per cent, and Fifth Third Bancorp added 2.1 per cent after both reported better results than expected for the latest quarter.
They helped offset an 11.5 per cent drop for Netflix, which fell even though it likewise delivered a better profit than expected. It did not raise its forecast for revenue growth for the full year, which analysts said may have disappointed some investors. It also said Reed Hastings, co-founder and chairman of the streaming company, will step down from its board of directors in June when his term expires.
In stock markets abroad, stock indexes leaped in Europe following Iran’s announcement about the Strait of Hormuz. France’s CAC 40 jumped 2.2 per cent, and Germany’s DAX returned 2.5 per cent.
In Asia, where trading finished for the day before the announcement, indexes were weaker. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.8 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9 per cent for two of the bigger losses.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased sharply as falling oil prices took pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.24 per cent from 4.32 per cent late Thursday.
