Wall Street’s main indexes jumped Friday after investors cheered Iran’s decision to open the Strait of Hormuz following a ceasefire accord agreed in Lebanon. The news of commercial shipping resuming through the waterway sent crude prices down 10.6%. The S&P 500 energy sector slipped 4.5% with Exxon Mobil and Chevron slipping 5% and 4%, respectively.
Airline stocks gained, with American Airlines and United Airlines jumping more than 7%. Cruise operators Carnival and Norwegian Cruise rose 8% and 8.5%, respectively. The CBOE volatility index hit a two-month low and was last down 0.17 points at 17.77.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite notched record closes on Thursday. At 09:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 554.22 points, or 1.14%, to 49,136.99, the S&P 500 gained 54.59 points, or 0.78%, to 7,095.87, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 252.37 points, or 1.05%, to 24,355.07.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.94-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.91-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
