Financial Markets                      04/17 09:29

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices are falling by more than 10% Friday, and Wall 
Street is rallying toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz 
is fully open again for oil tankers carrying crude from the Persian Gulf to 
customers worldwide.

   The S&P 500 climbed 1% as U.S. stocks raced toward the finish of a third 
straight week of big gains, the longest such streak for the index since 
Halloween. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 722 points, or 1.5%, as of 
10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.

   Stocks have jumped 12% since hitting a bottom in late March on hopes that 
the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global 
economy despite their war. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which may 
only be temporary, is the clearest signal yet for optimism, and President 
Donald Trump said in a speech late Thursday that the war "should be ending 
pretty soon."

   The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude dropped sharply immediately 
after Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that the passage for 
all commercial vessels through the strait "is declared completely open" as a 
ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the 
remaining period of the ceasefire. U.S. oil tumbled 10.2% to $81.88.

   Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 10.3% to $89.09. To be 
sure, it remains above its $70 level from before the war, indicating some 
caution is still embedded in financial markets.

   Several times since the war began, optimism on Wall Street has quickly swung 
to doubt about a possible end to the fighting. That in turn has caused vicious 
and sudden swings of prices for everything from stocks to bonds to oil.

   Minutes after the Iranian foreign minister's announcement of the reopening 
of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on his social media network Friday that the 
U.S. Navy's blockade of Iran remains "in full force" until both sides reach a 
deal on the war. He, though, also said that "should go very quickly in that 
most of the points are already negotiated," emphasizing it by using all capital 
letters.

   Companies with big fuel bills soared to some of Wall Street's biggest gains 
following the easing of oil prices.

   United Airlines soared 9.8%, for example. On Thursday, the head of the 
International Energy Agency had said that Europe has "maybe six weeks or so" of 
remaining jet fuel supplies.

   Operators of cruise ships, which guzzle fuel, also steamed higher. Norwegian 
Cruise Line jumped 9.3%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 9.3%.

   A strong start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has 
also helped to support the U.S. stock market, and several more financial 
companies joined the list Friday of companies delivering bigger profits for the 
start of 2026 than analysts expected.

   State Street rose 2.9%, and Fifth Third Bancorp added 1.4% after both 
reported better results for the latest quarter than expected.

   They helped offset a 9.2% drop for Netflix, which fell even though it 
likewise delivered a better profit than expected. It did not raise its forecast 
for revenue growth for the full year, which analysts said may have disappointed 
some investors. It also said Reed Hastings, cofounder and chairman of the 
streaming company, will step down from its board of directors in June when his 
term expires.

   In stock markets abroad, stock indexes leaped in Europe following Iran's 
announcement about the Strait of Hormuz. France's CAC 40 jumped 2%, and 
Germany's DAX returned 2.2%.

   In Asia, where trading finished for the day before the announcement, indexes 
were weaker. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.8%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.9% 
for two of the bigger losses.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields eased sharply as falling oil prices took 
pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.24% from 
4.32% late Thursday.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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