The S&P 500 leaped 1.4% as Wall Street rallied toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains, its longest such streak since Halloween. A freer flow of oil would not only help drivers angry about expensive gasoline, it would also take away upward pressure on inflation that’s hurting virtually everyone around the world.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,061 points, or 2.2%, as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude plunged immediately after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that the 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 U.S. oil tumbled 13% to $79.31 per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 13.4% to $86.11 per barrel. To be sure, it remains above its $70 price from before the war, indicating some caution is still embedded in financial markets.
