[New York Stock Exchange] Ceasefire Holds, Strong Earnings Drive S&P 500 and Nasdaq to Record Highs

Decline in International Oil Prices Also Drives Index Higher

On May 5 (local time), all three major U.S. stock indices closed higher. With confirmation that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran remains in place, a drop in international oil prices and strong corporate earnings propelled the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite to new record highs.

At the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 49,298.25, up 356.35 points (0.73%) from the previous session. The S&P 500, which is centered on large-cap stocks, gained 58.47 points (0.81%) to close at 7,259.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 258.324 points (1.03%) to end at 25,326.126.

New York Stock Exchange. New York, USA – Special Correspondent Yoonjoo Hwang

The decline in international oil prices and the release of corporate earnings supported the indices that day. At the ICE Futures Exchange, July Brent crude settled at $109.87 per barrel, down 3.99% from the previous session. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, June West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 3.90% to close at $102.27 per barrel.

Although the U.S. and Iran had engaged in a military exchange in the Strait of Hormuz the previous day, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that "the ceasefire is not over," easing concerns over a resumption of war and positively influencing investor sentiment.

Chris Senyek of Wolfe Research said, "Our base-case scenario for the market and the economy is that the conflict between the U.S. and Iran will be resolved in the short term, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, and energy prices will fall."

Above all, corporate earnings exceeding market expectations were decisive. According to FactSet data, about 85% of S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beaten market forecasts. Particularly, after DuPont and Anheuser-Busch InBev posted first-quarter results that surpassed expectations, their stock prices each surged more than 8%.

The top market cap stocks ended mixed. Nvidia fell by 0.83%, Microsoft (MS) by 0.80%, Amazon by 0.24%, TSMC by 1.27%, Tesla by 1.12%, and Meta by 1.12%. In contrast, Apple rose 2.38%, Alphabet 3.14%, Broadcom 3.84%, and Walmart 0.06%.

Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments, analyzed, "We have witnessed remarkable earnings not only among mega-cap tech stocks, but also across the broad S&P 500 index and even among U.S. mid- and small-cap indices."

He added, "The market appears to be trading at record highs as confidence that both the U.S. and Iran want some kind of resolution to this conflict combines with overall market sentiment."

Hill also noted, "The market has largely lost interest in the Strait of Hormuz situation," and added, "For the market to refocus on that conflict, there would need to be a significant change on the ground or a sharp spike in oil prices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.