NEW YORK, April 9, 2026, 13:17 EDT
Stocks climbed Thursday afternoon, with crude oil paring back earlier gains and optimism over a potential U.S.-Iran ceasefire calming some nerves. As of 1 p.m. Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had advanced 337 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 was also up 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite tacked on 0.7%.
The shift proved significant. Earlier, the ceasefire bounce had shown signs of unraveling. Oil spiked toward $103 a barrel in the morning, but prices quickly retreated after Israel announced plans for direct talks with Lebanon—a headline that steadied both crude and broader risk assets.
Wall Street pulled back from the prior session’s risk-on surge, trading with less conviction. Wednesday saw the Dow leap 2.85%—its best one-day percentage climb in a year. The S&P 500 added 2.51%. The Nasdaq rallied 2.80%. A Pakistan-brokered, two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire hammered oil prices lower, a big lift for airlines, cruise stocks, and other shares that track energy costs.
Amazon did some heavy lifting for stocks on Thursday. CEO Andy Jassy pegged AWS AI services at over $15 billion in annualized revenue—a run rate calculated from current numbers. Microsoft, back in January, said its own AI business had crossed a $13 billion yearly pace as of late 2024. Not everyone joined the party. Shares of Adobe and Salesforce slipped, as Anthropic’s newest model stirred up fresh concerns about generative AI eating into legacy software. Zacks’ Brian Mulberry called Amazon’s revenue “a strong validation.” Steve Sosnick at Interactive Brokers noted that investors were “getting back” to fretting over AI’s impact on software. Reuters
No relief on the macro front. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the personal consumption expenditures price index—favored by the Fed—climbed 0.4% in February, putting it 2.8% higher than a year ago. Fourth-quarter GDP got revised down to an annualized 0.5%. March consumer price numbers are next, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics set to release them Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The real trouble spot remains oil and shipping. Earlier on Thursday, traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz was running at less than 10% of typical levels. Macquarie’s Thierry Wizman and his team pointed out that “upward pressure on oil may be ‘here to stay for a while.’” Should the bottleneck drag on and crude prices stay elevated, equities would be staring down a more prolonged supply shock. Reuters
The Federal Reserve is back in focus. Minutes from the March 17-18 meeting revealed officials increasingly willing to consider rate hikes should inflation prove persistent. In response, traders dialed back bets: money markets now see about a 30% chance for a quarter-point cut by year-end, a sharp drop from the previous day’s 56%.
Traders keep snapping up any sign the conflict could ease, but with Friday’s CPI figures landing before the bell—and U.S. crude holding near $97 into the afternoon—Wall Street’s gains seem more about stalling for time than signaling a full recovery.
