Wall St gains on Mideast de-escalation hopes; monthly losses loom

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Tuesday, as markets cheered a report signaling potential de-escalation in the Middle East conflict that has set the S&P 500 and the Dow on track for their biggest monthly decline in years.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump told aides he was willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed, soothing some investor nerves.

The month-long conflict has battered global markets and left the S&P 500 and the Dow on track for their largest monthly falls since September 2022. The benchmark S&P 500 was also headed for its worst quarter since 2022.

Oil prices were volatile on Tuesday, but were headed for a record monthly gain. The S&P 500 energy index has gained more than 11% so far in March, the only sector set to end the month in positive territory. It would also be the sector’s biggest quarterly gain on record.

“The move in markets is reflecting what traders want to see, what they hear. They would like to hear that resolution to this is quick,” said Mark Malek, CIO at Siebert Financial.

Malek said oil prices were still high because the Strait of Hormuz was closed and that would ultimately “cause damage” to the economy.

The S&P 500 technology index added 2% after facing a selloff this quarter, driven by concerns about lofty capital expenditure plans. Software stocks were hit by worries over AI-driven disruption to their services.

Coreweave rose 8.4% after securing an $8.5 billion loan to expand AI infrastructure. Marvell Technology added 6.8% after Nvidia invested $2 billion in the firm.

A 3.9% rise in Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s 2.5% gain lifted the communication services index up 2.2%.

Nine out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors were in the green.

At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 627.92 points, or 1.39%, to 45,844.06, the S&P 500 gained 103.78 points, or 1.64%, to 6,447.50 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 432.71 points, or 2.08%, to 21,227.35.

Last week, the Dow and the Nasdaq ended 10% below their record high closes, confirming a correction. The small-cap Russell 2000 confirmed it earlier this month.

JOLTS data for February showed job openings fell to 6.882 million, slightly below estimates of 6.918 million, while consumer confidence came in above estimates.

Comments from Fed policymakers, including Austan Goolsbee and Michelle Bowman, will also be parsed for any clues on the monetary policy path.

The oil spike stemming from the Iran conflict has revived inflation worries, prompting money market participants to price out any easing from the Fed this year, compared with two cuts expected before the war broke out, per CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Among other movers, McCormick shares fell 6%. Unilever agreed to separate its food unit and merge it with McCormick in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing the spice maker at about $44.8 billion.

Constellation Energy dipped 7.1% after forecasting 2026 profit below Wall Street expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.21-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 19 new highs and 85 new lows.