The news was first reported by Axios, which said that negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program would be held during the truce period, but that the plan still needed the approval of President Donald Trump.
“Traders are on a hair trigger with the back-and-forth on deal news, and have been leaning long to avoid getting trampled by a better-than-expected outcome. The harder part is that the inflationary forces may not abate as fast as markets want,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. Economic data showed U.S. inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, driven by higher energy prices amid the Iran war. Meanwhile, U.S. GDP for the first quarter was revised lower to a 1.6% annualized increase, with momentum expected to slow this quarter.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 43.50 points, or 0.58%, to end at 7,563.71 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 239.79 points, or 0.91%, to 26,917.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24.11 points, or 0.04%, to 50,666.29. The S&P 500 healthcare index posted strong gains. Eli Lilly advanced after CVS Health said it would restore the drugmaker’s weight-loss injection, Zepbound, to its coverage and add its newly approved obesity pill Foundayo.
Tech shares also moved higher. Microsoft gained after news website the Information reported that the company would release a new coding model next week.
Marvell Technology rose after UBS raised its target price to $230 from $195.The company’s shares have more than doubled so far this year.Snowflake shares soared after the data analytics firm lifted its annual product revenue forecast and announced a five-year AI infrastructure deal worth $6 billion with Amazon Web Services.
Peers Datadog and MongoDB also climbed.
Renewed confidence in AI and earnings growth momentum have underscored the recent rally despite the Middle East tensions, which have increased inflationary expectations.
“Markets continue to look through these risks because the global economy and corporate earnings remain relatively resilient,” said Jitania Kandhari, deputy CIO, solutions and multi-assets, at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
“Geopolitical instability could ultimately accelerate spending in areas tied to AI, including cybersecurity, defense technology, energy infrastructure and supply-chain resiliency, reinforcing the long-term investment case.”
While the S&P 500 is trading at roughly 21 to 22 times forward earnings versus a trailing 10-year average of 19.7 times, investors are less concerned because earnings expectations are rising faster than stock prices, Kandhari said. Among other movers, Dollar Tree climbed after the discount retailer lifted its full-year profit forecast, while Best Buy also rose after the electronics vendor forecast second-quarter sales above estimates. Drone companies rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was in talks to fund drone firms. Shares of Unusual Machines surged.
