The S&P 500 leaped 1.2% as Wall Street rallied to the finish of a third straight week of big gains, its longest streak since Halloween. A freer flow of oil would 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 or mortgage bills.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly climbed 1,139 points and was up 942 points, or 1.9%, as of 2:05 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% 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 11.6% to $83.65 per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 9.2% to $90.25 per barrel. To be sure, it remains above its $70 price from before the war, indicating some caution is still embedded in financial markets.
Companies that are big fuel users, like airlines and cruise ships, saw their stock values climb.
