Oil prices sink and stocks rally worldwide on hopes for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

The small strait has caused big trouble for the global economy because the war with Iran has blocked oil tankers from using it to exit the Persian Gulf. A reopening could allow oil to flow freely again and remove upward pressure on inflation that’s driven prices up for all kinds of products worldwide.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 0.9% and was heading for another record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 498 points, or 1%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.

Stock markets abroad had even bigger gains, and indexes jumped 6.5% in Seoul, 1.2% in Hong Kong, 2.2% in London and 3% in Paris.

Of course, hopes have risen several times already on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, only to quickly get dashed. That could happen again, and oil prices pared some of their steepest losses from Wednesday morning. The price for a barrel of Brent briefly dove below $97 before returning above $100 after Trump threatened to start bombing “at a much higher level and intensity” if Iran does not accept the agreement.

But Wall Street nevertheless latched onto potentially encouraging signals. Trump said Tuesday he was pausing his effort to forcefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships. And China’s foreign minister called for a comprehensive ceasefire following a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. That could be influential because of how closely tied Iran is to China economically and politically.

Plus, in the background, big U.S. companies continue to turn in much stronger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. That’s helping to support the stock market despite all the uncertainties about the war.

AMD helped lead the market with a surge of 15.8% after it joined the list of big-name companies topping expectations for both profit and revenue. CEO Lisa Su said the chip company benefited from continued growth from artificial-intelligence technology, which is demanding tremendous amounts of computing power from data centers.

AMD also said its revenue growth could accelerate in the current quarter to roughly 46% from a year earlier.

Another company enmeshed in the AI industry, Super Micro Computer, rallied 18.1% after likewise delivering stronger earnings than analysts expected. Nvidia, the chip company that became the poster child of the AI boom, rose 4.4%.

CVS Health climbed 7.5% after delivering better results for the first quarter than analysts expected and raising its financial forecasts for the full year. The Walt Disney Co. gained 8.3% after topping analysts' expectations for profit and saying its “Zootopia 2” movie helped draw people to its streaming business, parks and cruise ships. Uber Technologies drove 7.6% higher after giving a bookings forecast for the spring that was higher than analysts expected.

Outside of earnings reports, companies with big fuel bills jumped on hopes that oil prices will continue to ease. That included gains of 4.4% for United Airlines, 5.1% for Carnival and 5.6% for Royal Caribbean.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased sharply as falling oil prices took pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.35% from 4.43% late Tuesday. That’s a notable move for the bond market.

Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which could boost the economy. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments. The 10-year yield, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from just before the war.

In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi jumped above the 7,000 level for the first time to a record following big gains for AI winners, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.