Stocks Rally as Investors Grow Hopeful About a Hormuz Deal
U.S. stocks reached record highs on Tuesday and oil prices fell below $80 a barrel as investors were hopeful that a lull in fighting in the Middle East would hold and that corporate earnings would remain robust.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed optimism on Tuesday in negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial passageway through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil is normally shipped. There had been “progress in talks,” he said, “but not finality yet.”
The foreign ministry spokesman for Qatar, which has mediated discussions between Iran and the United States in the past, said the talks were in “very progressive stages.”
The comments buoyed Wall Street sentiment, which was bolstered further by strong earnings from large tech companies with a heavy involvement in artificial intelligence, including Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir.
