Stocks Rise Again on Hopes for End of War

Hope for a possible end to the war with Iran pushed stocks higher again on Wednesday, while oil prices eased.

• The S&P 500 rose 35.53 points, or 0.5%, to 6,591.90.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305.43 points, or 0.7%, to 46,429.49.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 167.93 points, or 0.8%, to 21,929.83

But the moves were shaky, and the S&P 500 during the morning briefly came close to erasing all of an early 1.2% jump, the AP reports.

Financial markets have swung sharply since the war began more than three weeks ago, and many of the reversals have struck hour to hour as uncertainty continues to dominate about how long the war will last. Keeping up that uncertainty on Wednesday: Iran dismissed the US government's 15-point proposal for a ceasefire, and Iranian state television's English-language broadcaster quoted an anonymous official as saying "Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met." Iran also launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport, while coming under attack itself.

• Optimism, though, was nevertheless evident in financial markets worldwide. Stock indexes climbed more than 1% in London, Paris and Shanghai. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 leaped 2.9%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude delivered in June fell 3% at $97.26 on hopes that a cooldown in fighting could allow oil and natural gas to flow more freely from the Persian Gulf to customers around the world.

On Wall Street, Arm Holdings soared 16.4% after the UK giant announced a suite of chips for data centers and artificial-intelligence technology. Robinhood Markets leaped 5% to help lead US stocks after its board authorized a program to send up to $1.5 billion to shareholders by buying back the company's stock. Terns Pharmaceuticals rose 5.7% after Merck said it would buy the oncology company in an all-cash deal valuing it at $6.7 billion. Merck rose 2.6%. The stock prices for the parent companies of YouTube and Instagram held relatively steady after a jury found them liable in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that aimed to hold social media platforms responsible for harm to children using their services. Alphabet rose 0.1%, and Meta Platforms rose 0.3%.

On the losing end of Wall Street was On Holding. The Swiss company that sells On shoes slumped 11.2% after saying its CEO, Martin Hoffmann, is stepping down. In Hong Kong, Pop Mart International Group tumbled 22.5% after the company behind the popular Labubu dolls reported explosive growth in profit and revenue, but not enough to meet analysts' expectations.