NEW YORK, April 15, 2026, 14:27 EDT
The Dow Jones Industrial Average trailed the broader market on Wednesday, down roughly 0.4%. The S&P 500 notched its first intraday record since the U.S.-Iran conflict kicked off, while the Nasdaq climbed nearly 1%. Renewed optimism over possible Washington-Tehran talks, along with another batch of upbeat bank earnings, helped sustain the risk-on mood.
The split makes a difference for the Dow, since the 30-stock index gives more weight to share price than to a company’s market cap. Both the Dow and Nasdaq slipped into correction territory during the war-fueled selloff—a correction signals a decline of at least 10% from a recent peak—and Wednesday’s session showed that the bounce back remains patchy.
At 11:48 a.m. ET, the Dow slipped 189.47 points to 48,346.52. The S&P 500 moved up 0.44% to 6,997.86, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.05%, hitting 23,886.07. Tech names added 1.5%. Materials pulled back 1.4%. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley advanced following their quarterly earnings reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran might be back on within two days, despite weekend negotiations in Islamabad falling apart. The Strait of Hormuz—a critical route for about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas—remains largely closed. Still, David Seif at Nomura noted U.S. equities showed “a decent amount of confidence” that the supply shock could soon be over. Reuters
Bank of America came in ahead of expectations with a first-quarter net profit of $8.6 billion, translating to $1.11 per share. Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, delivered $5.15 billion in equities trading revenue—a record—and saw investment-banking revenue surge 36%. “We feel good about our pipeline,” said BofA CFO Alastair Borthwick. Over at Aptus Capital Advisors, David Wagner described Morgan Stanley’s numbers as “a well-rounded beat.” The momentum wasn’t limited to just these two: JPMorgan and Citigroup also posted robust results earlier this week. Analysts now put S&P 500 first-quarter earnings at a combined $605.1 billion, up from $598.7 billion at the period’s outset. Reuters
The Dow added 317.74 points on the previous session, finishing at 48,535.99—its best showing since early March—after milder producer inflation numbers and a renewed whiff of diplomacy brought buyers in. “Don’t want to miss the rebound,” said NFJ Investment Group’s Burns McKinney. Over at Ameriprise, Anthony Saglimbene pointed to the market moving out from under “peak uncertainty.” Reuters
Inflation remains in play here. The Labor Department said U.S. import prices climbed 0.8% in March—less than the 2.0% jump most economists had penciled in. Still, Reuters noted experts expect a steeper increase for April as pricier oil starts hitting the data. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack kept the door open to either direction on rates, saying there’s no rush to shift policy for now, but future moves—up or down—are possible.
The warning signs are hard to miss. Oil remains about 31% higher than before the conflict, and there’s no fresh deal on the table. The IMF trimmed its 2026 global growth outlook to 3.1% in the base scenario, flagging that a prolonged war could drag growth to 2.5% or even as low as 2.0%. B. Riley Wealth’s Art Hogan said investors are holding out for “concrete evidence” that diplomacy is actually working. Reuters
The Dow finished above 50,000 for the first time back in February, a period when traders started looking outside the tech sector. After confirming a correction in March, it’s spent weeks clawing back from those losses—still hovering around 48,300 as of Wednesday, not out front in the recovery yet.
