Stock market today: Live updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 31, 2026 in New York City.
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Stocks extended their rally Thursday, even as oil prices gained, amid continued optimism among traders that the fragile two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran could be sustained.
The S&P 500 added 0.62% and ended at 6,824.66, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.83% to 22,822.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 275.88 points, or 0.58%, and settled at 48,185.80. The 30-stock index turned positive for the year, up 0.25%.
Crude prices advanced again on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate futures rose more than 3% to settle at $97.87 per barrel after earlier rising above $100. International Brent crude futures added more than 1% to close at $95.92.
The S&P 500 traded into the green and oil prices came off their highs of the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country has agreed to open direct negotiations with Lebanon. Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had called Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The broad market index was also supported by a 2.6% move higher in shares of Meta Platforms on the heels of the company debuting its new artificial intelligence model. Defensive areas of the market rose as well, as shares of Walmart increased along with utilities such as American Electric Power.
The moves come after the three leading U.S. indexes popped more than 2% during Wednesday’s session, with the Dow seeing its best day since April 2025 — back when President Donald Trump softened his stance on some of his lofty initial tariffs.
On Tuesday night, Trump agreed to pause attacks on Iran. The Middle Eastern conflict has been going on for five weeks and has resulted in the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The “double sided” ceasefire, however, was contingent on Iran agreeing to reopening the strait. Tehran agreed to reopen the waterway for the next two weeks as long as all attacks are halted, according to a statement from Iran’s Foreign Minister. Media reports said that Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire.
But overall traffic through the strait has still not improved since the ceasefire deal was announced, as only some bulk carriers — which carry dry cargo rather than oil — have traversed the key waterway.
U.S. military forces will remain deployed in and around Iran until Tehran fully complies with the “real agreement,” Trump said Wednesday, warning that any breach would trigger a military response larger than anything seen before.
“The very fact that ceasefire exists and both sides agree to it gives investors the ability to believe that this situation will resolve itself longer term,” said Rick Wedell, chief investment officer at RFG Advisory.
That said, the longer the strait stays closed, the “more difficult it is to reopen everything and the longer these sort of supply shocks are going to last,” he added.
