On Wednesday, regional officials told The Associated Press that the U.S. and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend a two-week ceasefire deal that is expiring next week and were making progress toward another round of talks.
But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also warned that Washington was preparing to apply secondary sanctions on those doing business with Iran – including potentially those from China that’s buying Iranian oil – in order to step up economic pressure on the country.
Oil gained on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 1.4% to $96.27 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude, meanwhile, gained 1.2% to $92.41 a barrel.
Oil prices have surged since the Iran war began in late February. The Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes through normally, has remained largely closed. The U.S. has imposed a sea blockade on Iranian ports this week to force Tehran to reopen the strait and to accept a deal.
“The key upside risk for the market is that peace talks between the US and Iran break down,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note Thursday. “This isn’t an unrealistic scenario, given that US and Iranian demands remain fairly wide apart.”
On Wednesday, Wall Street hit a record on optimism over progress on a longer term ceasefire of the Iran war. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 7,022.95, eclipsing its prior all-time high set in January.
The Nasdaq composite gained 1.6% to 24,016.02, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.2% to 48,463.72.
Shares of Bank of America were 1.8% higher after the bank announced better-than-expected quarterly results and its CEO Brian Moynihan saw signs of a “resilient American economy” including solid spending by consumers. Shares of Morgan Stanley gained 4.5% also following better-than-expected quarterly results.
San Francisco-based shoe brand Allbirds’ share price ballooned 582% to nearly $17, after saying it’s shifting into artificial intelligence and would be changing its name to NewBird AI.
In other dealings, the price of gold climbed 0.1% on Thursday to $4,829.40 an ounce, while silver prices edged up less than 0.1% to $79.65 per ounce.
The U.S. dollar rose to 159.12 Japanese yen from 159 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1774, down from $1.1799.
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
