Wall Street steady; Oil prices climb; ASX set to dip
Stan Choe
The US stock market is hovering near a record high as Wall Street waits for more clues about what will happen in the Iran war before making its next big move.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.2 percent, its 10th rise in 11 days, a day after hitting its all-time high set in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70 points, or 0.1 percent, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent.
The Australian share market is poised for a pullback, with futures pointing to a loss of 21 points, or 0.2 per cent, at the open at 5.07am (AEST). The ASX lost 0.3 per cent on Thursday. The Australian dollar was trading at 71.60¢.
U.S. stocks have jumped more than 10 percent since their low in late March, driven by hopes that the war could end or avert a worst-case scenario for the global economy. Now the wait remains to see whether such hopes are prescient or merely wishful thinking.
Pakistan’s powerful army chief met with the speaker of Iran’s parliament on Thursday as part of efforts to press for an extension of the ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the United States and the Islamic Republic.
The rise in oil prices shows that caution continues in financial markets. The barrel price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, increased by 5.1 percent to $99.74. It rose from about US$70 before the war to as high as US$119 at times, due to uncertainty about how long the war would keep oil in the Persian Gulf region and away from customers.
“The most significant upside risk for the market is the failure of peace talks between the United States and Iran,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote on Thursday. “Given that the demands of the United States and Iran are quite different, this is not an unrealistic scenario.”
Meanwhile, major U.S. companies continue to post even better growth in profits at the beginning of 2026 than analysts expected. This kind of growth is the lifeblood of the stock market, whose level tends to follow the lead of corporate profits over the long term.
PepsiCo rose 2.6 percent in its latest quarter after reporting better results than analysts expected. Customers bought more snacks during the quarter after the company announced in February that it would lower prices on Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos chips to win back people disappointed by higher prices.
JB Hunt Transport Services was up 8.2 per cent and Marsh & McLennan was up 4.5 per cent after both also reported stronger-than-expected results.
Technology stocks also received some support overall after industry heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported stronger revenue and profits for early 2026 than analysts expected. TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said that the company expects strong demand to continue in the spring months.
On Wall Street’s losing side was Abbott, falling 6.5 percent despite delivering slightly better results than analysts expected. The healthcare company cut its profit forecast for the full year, mostly due to its acquisition of cancer screening company Exact Sciences.
Allbirds lost 27.7 percent, but that gave back only a fraction of the 582 percent gain from the previous day. The company, formerly known for its sneakers, is branching out into the artificial intelligence industry and hopes to lease the use of high-powered AI chips as a service.
Indices on stock markets abroad increased in most of Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 2.4 percent, South Korea’s Kospi index rose 2.2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.7 percent due to some major moves in the world.
China on Thursday reported 5 percent economic growth for the January-March quarter, accelerating from the previous quarter. While economists say China is largely dismissive of the initial effects of the Iran war, some warn that China’s major export engine could be more severely hit by slowing global economic growth in the coming months.
In the bond market, Treasury yields retreated slightly last week following a report showing fewer U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.31 percent from 4.29 percent on Wednesday.
