North America’s main indexes opened higher on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran, even as uncertainty remained over whether Tehran and U.S. ally Israel would honor the truce.
At 9:33 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 0.6 per cent at 34,063.34 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122.1 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 49,271.5. The S&P 500 rose 38.9 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,102.91, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 202.3 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 24,462.313.
Trump said the indefinite extension of the ceasefire followed a request by Pakistani mediators. However, the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect, and Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route.
The bullish sentiment points to a market desperate to cling to good news, and reflects investor belief that despite setbacks, the war will be settled at the negotiating table instead of the battlefield.
“The peace process is looking wobbly again as some of the difficult realities of the war come to the fore,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
“The risk is (that) Iran’s domestic political dynamics and strategic tensions between the U.S. and Iran -- not to mention Israel -- maintain an inertia towards escalation.”
Investors were also scrutinizing a fresh batch of quarterly reports as the earnings season gathered pace. A strong run of earnings so far has reassured markets about the health of the U.S. consumer, the growth engine of the economy.
S&P 500 EPS estimates for 2026 and 2027 have risen by 4% since late January, according to data from Goldman Sachs.
Oil prices continued to bounce around. Benchmark U.S. crude is up 82 US cents to US$90.49 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 99 US cents to US$99.47.
The moves were milder than the vicious swings that rocked Wall Street earlier in the war, when the price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly topped US$119 and the S&P 500 dropped nearly 10 per cent below its prior all-time high.
Much of the tension in financial markets has focused on what will happen to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s coast that oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf, where Iran fired on three ships Wednesday despite the truce.
A trip by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan where it was hoped negotiators would continue was called off this week.
Iran had not yet responded to Trump’s Tuesday announcement of the ceasefire extension, and both countries have warned they were prepared to resume fighting if a deal isn’t reached.
In equities trading, Boeing shares rose 4.4 per cent after the aerospace giant posted improved first-quarter revenue and a much smaller loss than Wall Street had expected. The troubled jet maker said commercial aircraft deliveries rose 10 per cent over last year’s quarter and that it expects some of its 737s to be certified this year, with deliveries of the planes targeted for 2027.
Boeing has been mired in legal and regulatory problems since two of its jetliners crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Best Buy fell 4.3 per cent early Wednesday after the electronics retailer announced the departure of CEO Corie Barry. She will be replaced by longtime insider Jason Bonfig, the company’s chief customer, product and fulfillment officer.
Electric automaker Tesla and railroad operator CSX report after the bell Wednesday.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.3 per cent, while the German DAX and Britain’s FTSE 100 were virtually unchanged.
Inflation in the U.K. climbed in March after a sharp jump in prices at the pump in the wake of the disruption to energy supplies caused by the Iran war, official figures showed Wednesday.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 per cent to finish at 59,585.86.
The government reported a trade deficit of 1.7 trillion yen (US$10.7 billion) in the fiscal year that ended in March, the fifth straight fiscal year of deficits. However, exports jumped nearly 11.7 per cent in March and imports rose almost 10.9 per cent in a sign that manufacturers may be bouncing back from the shocks of higher tariffs Trump imposed after returning to office last year.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.2 per cent to 8,843.60. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5 per cent to 6,417.93.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.2 per cent to 26,163.24, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 per cent to 4,106.26.
Reuters and The Associated Press