- S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record highs
- US says Iran ceasefire holds despite exchange of fire over Strait of Hormuz
- Oil prices ease but still over $100/barrel
- Traders on watch for yen intervention
(Reuters) - U.S. and global stocks jumped on Tuesday, taking heart from a series of robust earnings, while oil prices eased despite still-simmering hostilities between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record high closes on Tuesday, lifted by Intel and other AI-related stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 0.73%, with the S&P 500 adding 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite about 1% higher.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 rose about 0.7%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.54%.
The U.S. and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, not long after U.S. President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the vital energy-trade chokepoint. Washington said a shaky ceasefire was still intact.
In oil markets, Brent futures fell $4.57, or 4%, to settle at $109.87 a barrel, having jumped in the previous session on heightened worries about supply disruption.
Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said that "complacent" investors continue to look beyond the U.S.-Iran war and higher oil prices, and are more focused on robust U.S. corporate earnings and capital expenditures.
"The risk-on attitude persists even in the face of what clearly are an array of potential problem issues," Wren wrote in an email.
Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed 83% of S&P 500 companies that have already reported have beaten EPS estimates and 78.2% of them have beaten revenue estimates. LSEG data shows earnings growth for the S&P 500 is now projected to top 18% in the first quarter, up from estimates of around 12.8% just a month ago.
"With no signs of slowing down, AI-driven spending will likely continue to do the heavy lifting for S&P 500 earnings growth, led by the technology sector," said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial.
YEN INTERVENTION WATCH
Traders also had their eyes on the yen after the Japanese currency briefly jumped in the previous session, stoking speculation of another round of intervention from Tokyo.
The yen was last slightly weaker on the day, leaving the dollar up around 0.4% at 157.82 , after Monday's short-lived surge that saw the Japanese currency touch an intraday high of 155.69.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was flat on the day.
U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday, with benchmark U.S. 10-year notes down 2.2 basis points to 4.424%.
Elsewhere, spot gold rose about 0.75% to $4,554 an ounce, above Monday's trough at $4,500, the lowest since March 31.
Bitcoin continued its rebound, trading at $81,652, up from around $62,800 in early February.
Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston, Amanda Cooper in London and Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Keith Weir and Sanjeev Miglani
Source: Reuters