By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Oil prices are sinking Wednesday, and stock markets are bursting higher worldwide with\u00a0hopes that the United States and Iran are nearing a deal<\/a>\u00a0to allow ships to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf once again to their customers.<\/p>\n The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, sank 7.5% to $101.75, down from more than $115 early this week. It dropped as President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could be \u201cOPEN TO ALL\u201d if Iran accepts a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.<\/p>\n The small strait has caused\u00a0big trouble for the global economy<\/a>\u00a0because the\u00a0war with Iran<\/a>\u00a0has 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\u2019s driven prices up for\u00a0all kinds of products<\/a>\u00a0worldwide.<\/p>\n On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2% and was heading\u00a0for another record<\/a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 580 points, or 1.2%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher.<\/p>\n Stock markets abroad had even bigger gains, and indexes jumped 6.5% in Seoul, 2.1% in London and 3.1% in Paris.<\/p>\n Of course, hopes have risen several times already on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, only to get dashed each time. 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 \u201cat a much higher level and intensity\u201d if Iran does not accept the agreement.<\/p>\n But Wall Street nevertheless latched onto potentially encouraging signals.\u00a0Trump said Tuesday he was pausing<\/a>\u00a0his effort to forcefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships. And\u00a0China\u2019s foreign minister called for a comprehensive ceasefire<\/a>\u00a0following a meeting with Iran\u2019s foreign minister. That could be influential because of\u00a0how closely tied Iran is to China<\/a>\u00a0economically and politically.<\/p>\n Plus, in the meantime, big\u00a0U.S. companies continue to turn in much stronger profits<\/a>\u00a0for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. That\u2019s helping to support the stock market despite all the uncertainties about the war.<\/p>\n AMD helped lead the market with a surge of 17.8% 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.<\/p>\n AMD also said its revenue growth could accelerate in the current quarter to roughly 46% from a year earlier.<\/p>\n Another company enmeshed in the AI industry, Super Micro Computer, rallied 15.8% after likewise delivering stronger earnings than analysts expected. Nvidia, the chip company that became the poster child of the AI boom, rose 5.1% and was the single strongest force lifting the S&P 500 because of its immense size.<\/p>\n CVS Health climbed 6.5% after delivering better results for the first quarter than analysts expected and raising its financial forecasts for the full year.\u00a0The Walt Disney Co.<\/a>\u00a0gained 6.3% after saying its \u201cZootopia 2\u201d movie helped draw people to its streaming business, parks and cruise ships and delivering a better-than-expected profit. Uber Technologies drove 8.2% higher after giving a bookings forecast for the spring that was higher than analysts expected.<\/p>\n Outside of earnings reports, companies with big fuel bills jumped on hopes that oil prices will continue to ease. That included gains of 5% for United Airlines, 4.9% for Carnival and 6.4% for Royal Caribbean.<\/p>\n In the bond market, Treasury yields sank 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\u2019s a notable move for the bond market.<\/p>\n