Wall Street Rallies to Another Record  04/17 15:41

   Oil prices dropped back to where they were in the early days of the Iran 
war, and U.S. stocks raced to another record Friday after Iran said the Strait 
of Hormuz is open again for commercial tankers carrying crude from the Persian 
Gulf to customers worldwide.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices dropped back to where they were in the early 
days of the Iran war, and U.S. stocks raced to another record Friday after Iran 
said the Strait of Hormuz is open again for commercial tankers carrying crude 
from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

   The S&P 500 leaped 1.2% to an all-time high and closed out a third straight 
week of big gains, its longest streak since Halloween. A freer flow of oil 
could take pressure off prices not only for gasoline but also for groceries and 
all kinds of other products that get moved by vehicles. It could even 
ultimately help people pay less on credit-card interest and mortgage bills.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged as many as 1,100 points before 
paring its gain to 868, or 1.8%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.5%.

   The U.S. stock market has jumped more than 12% since hitting a bottom in 
late March on hopes the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario 
for the global economy despite their war. Friday's reopening of the Strait of 
Hormuz, which may only be temporary, is the clearest signal yet for optimism, 
and President Donald Trump said late Thursday that the war "should be ending 
pretty soon."

   The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude plunged immediately after 
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that passage for all 
commercial vessels through the strait "is declared completely open" as a 
ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the 
remaining period of the ceasefire, and the price for U.S. oil dropped 9.4% to 
settle at $82.59 per barrel.

   Brent crude, the international standard, fell 9.1% to settle at $90.38 per 
barrel. To be sure, it remains above its $70 price 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 
deteriorated into doubt about a possible end to the fighting. That in turn has 
caused vicious and sudden swings of prices for everything from stocks to bonds 
to oil.

   Minutes after the Iranian foreign minister's announcement of the Strait of 
Hormuz's reopening, Trump said on his social media network that the U.S. Navy's 
blockade of Iranian ports remains "in full force" until both sides reach a deal 
on the war. He, though, also suggested that "should go very quickly in that 
most of the points are already negotiated" and emphasized it by using all 
capital letters.

   Companies with big fuel bills soared to some of Wall Street's biggest gains 
following the easing of oil prices.

   United Airlines flew 7.1% higher, and Southwest Airlines climbed 5.1%. A day 
earlier, 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. Royal 
Caribbean Group gained 7.3%, and Carnival rose 7%.

   Housing and auto-related companies likewise got some relief from the drop in 
oil prices.

   With less threat of high inflation hurting the economy, a sustained drop in 
oil prices could convince the Federal Reserve to resume its cuts to interest 
rates to help the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.24% from 
4.32% late Thursday, and lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and 
other loans going to U.S. households and businesses.

   Builders FirstSource, a supplier of windows and other products, rose 5.5%, 
and homebuilder PulteGroup gained 5% on hopes that lower mortgage rates will 
spur more people to buy houses. Carvana climbed 7% because lower loan rates can 
get more customers into new autos.

   A strong start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has 
also helped support the U.S. stock market, and more financial companies joined 
the list delivering bigger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected.

   State Street rose 2.5%, and Fifth Third Bancorp added 1.7% after both 
reported better results for the latest quarter than expected.

   They helped offset a 9.7% slide for Netflix, which fell even though it 
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, cofounder and chairman of the streaming company, 
will step down from its board of directors in June when his term expires.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 84.78 points to 7,126.06. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average jumped 868.71 to 49,447.43, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 
365.78 to 24,468.48.

   In stock markets abroad, stock indexes leaped in Europe following Iran's 
announcement about the Strait of Hormuz. France's CAC 40 jumped 2%, and 
Germany's DAX returned 2.3%.

   In Asia, where trading finished for the day before the announcement, indexes 
were weaker. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.8%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.9% 
for two of the bigger losses.