The stock market rallied back toward its highest levels on record on Tuesday as oil prices sank in the wake of a cease-fire between Israel and Iran.
The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to move within 1% of its Feb. 19 closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 507 points, or 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4%.
The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.5% to mark its first record close since Feb. 19.
Brent crude oil futures fell 6.1% to $67.14 a barrel, its lowest settlement since June 10. WTI crude futures fell 6% to $64.37, its lowest settlement value since June 5, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Wall Street took the decline in oil and the cooldown in Middle East tensions as a green light to pile into risk. The Invesco S&P 500 High Beta ETF surged more than 2%, while artificial intelligence stocks and ETFs led the charge, though a majority of stocks and sectors rose on Tuesday.
“The market will view this Iran threat as now gone and that is a positive for growth in the broader Middle East and ultimately the tech sector,” writes Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “It will take some time for this conflict to settle with this ceasefire an initial step, but the market will view the worst is now in the rear-view mirror with investors looking forward.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also began his two-day report to Congress, but the central banker mostly repeated his usual lines that the path forward for interest rates will depend on the coming inflation data.
Odds of a July rate cut were down to 18.6% from 20.7% on Monday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. But odds of at least one cut by the September meeting rose to 85.2% from 82.7% on Monday and 62.5% a week ago.
owell’s testimony followed recent comments from two central bank officials who suggested a July cut was on the table if inflation stays tame despite worries about a spike due to tariffs.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note declined for a fifth day in a row to 3.81%.
“The markets are telling Powell that he will be lowering rates much more quickly than he portrayed today,” writes Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities.