The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and was heading for its 10th gain in the last 11 days, a day after dropping from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 900 points, or 1.8%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.
Stocks got a lift from a 2.8% drop for the price of Brent crude oil to $95.03 per barrel. That gave back a chunk of its rise from this week caused by the latest flare-ups of fighting between Iran and the United States and its allies.
The expectation on Wall Street seems to be that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would hopefully improve the flow of crude, lower oil's price and remove some of the upward pressure on inflation that's hurting the world. Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, helped launch the S&P 500 on a nine-day winning streak that ended Wednesday, a day short of its longest such run in three decades.
