Wall Street advances as tentative Iran deal drives down oil prices, ASX set to rise
Stan Choe
The US stock market is heading for more records as companies like Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods continue to pile on profits. A temporary agreement to extend the truce in the war with Iran for 60 days also helped lift the market and rein in oil prices.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to the all-time high it set the day before after drifting between small gains and losses in early morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30 points, or 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9 percent after both indexes set records the previous day.
The Australian share market is poised to rise, with futures at 4.48am AEST pointing to a 54-point, or 0.6 per cent, rise at the open. The ASX fell 1.4 per cent on Thursday. The Australian dollar was trading at 71.64¢.
Stocks rose as oil prices gave back most of their morning gains following reports that the US-Iran deal, which still needs President Donald Trump’s approval, was tentative. The barrel price of benchmark US crude oil fell from $92.50, the highest level of the night, to $88.78.
Oil prices have fluctuated as hopes wax and wane that the United States and Iran could reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers around the world. They climbed enough for a report on Thursday to show that a measure of U.S. inflation accelerated to its worst level in three years last month, roughly in line with economists’ expectations.
Despite concerns about expensive oil and high inflation, the U.S. stock market reached records because U.S. companies continue to make more money. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, with companies routinely outperforming analysts’ expectations in the first three months of 2026.
Shares of Dollar Tree jumped 16.2 percent after it became the latest company to report more profit than analysts expected. CEO Mike Creedon said improved store conditions helped the retailer make more profit on every $1 of sales in the latest quarter, despite tariffs that increased costs. The company also gave a full-year profit forecast that beat analysts’ expectations.
Kohl’s gained 18.4 percent after the retailer reported better-than-expected results in the latest quarter than analysts feared, while Best Buy rose 18.5 percent after a better-than-expected earnings report. Hormel Foods rose 13.5 percent after strong performance for its Jennie-O ground turkey and Spam lunch meat exports helped it post a better profit than analysts expected.
Snowflake rose 39.4 percent after it said artificial intelligence remains a strong driver of its business and that its profit and revenue beat expectations in the latest quarter.
They helped offset the decline, which fell 0.6 percent even though Salesforce reported better-than-expected profits in its latest quarter. As Salesforce pushes its own AI offerings, its shares have been under pressure due to concerns that AI-powered rivals could take away the company’s business.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after oil prices lost most of their gains, reducing upward pressure on inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.46 percent from 4.48 percent at the end of Wednesday.
Recent high yields in bond markets around the world have threatened to slow economies and drive down the prices of stocks and every other investment. Higher yields have already pushed the average long-term U.S. mortgage interest rate to its most expensive level in nine months, which could reduce companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have recently fueled the growth of the U.S. economy.
The pace of new home sales in the United States unexpectedly slowed last month as high mortgage rates put pressure on the housing market, a report published Thursday said.
Indices in foreign stock markets fell in most of Europe and Asia. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index suffered one of the world’s biggest losses, losing 1.3 percent.
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