US stocks rebound as oil prices retreat

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks bounced early Tuesday, resuming an upward climb on another batch of solid US earnings as oil prices retreated.

After jumping Monday on rising US-Iran tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices retreated Tuesday after Maersk said one of its ships had successfully sailed through the strait under US escort.

Iran’s blockage of the waterway has lifted oil prices more than 60 percent since mid-February.

READ MORE: Wall St falls as ME tensions spark fresh jitters

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 49,057.10.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to 7,243.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 percent to 25,303.59.

Monday’s pullback positioned the market for Tuesday’s rally, analysts said.

“The market psychology and the market momentum are so positive right now that as long as the news isn’t truly terrible, the stock market seems inclined to rally,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.

Major US indices finished at records Friday following a round of mostly good results from tech giants.

Briefing.com‘s Patrick O’Hare said the latest batch of better-than-expected results from Pfizer, Palantir, DuPont and others are “keeping participants focused on the impressive earnings growth.”