U.S. stocks rose despite renewed tensions in the Middle East, with a slight rise in oil and gas prices, as investors weighed mixed signals from Washington and Tehran on Thursday.
Major indexes opened in positive territory, one day after a midweek selloff that was fueled by tit-for-tat strikes over Iran’s aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil traffic.
The price of Brent crude oil rose to about $76 per barrel, up from closer to $70 last week.
Average U.S. gas prices rose 5 cents on Thursday to $3.85 per gallon, up from $3.80 on Wednesday, according to the AAA motor club.
Gas prices averaged about $3 per gallon at the start of the war on Feb. 28, and they had been falling after a mid-June memorandum of understanding paused the overseas fighting. Renewed strikes seemed to arrest and reverse that decline.
Stocks were buoyed Thursday by chipmakers’ performance, and Wall Street seems to be betting that Washington can manage the economic fallout from the conflict.
President Trump pointed directly to the economic benefits of halting the fighting when he signed the ceasefire memo last month, saying he did not want to be remembered as the next Herbert Hoover, referring to the president who oversaw the start of the Great Depression.
Mr. Trump said late Wednesday he does not know if the U.S. is returning to a full-scale war with Iran, though he contended Tehran still wants to reach a peace settlement — rhetoric that could calm markets.
“They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly,” the president said on Air Force One.
Iran’s actions in Hormuz remain a key wild card. Officials in Tehran seem intent on maintaining some level of control over the waterway, which could jar oil prices.
“Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X. “The Strait of Hormuz will only open with ’Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats.”
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