The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed to brand new all-time highs on Thursday as markets kept pushing higher on hopes that the Iran war could move closer to a resolution.
The S&P 500 rose 0.26% to close at 7,041.28, while the Nasdaq gained 0.36% to finish at 24,102.70. Both indexes set new intraday and closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 115 points, or 0.24%, to end at 48,578.72.
So far this week, the S&P 500 is up 3.3%, the Nasdaq has gained 5.2%, and the Dow has advanced more than 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also posted its 12th straight positive session, its longest winning streak since 2009.
Stocks got another leg up after Donald Trump said he had spoken with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire set to begin at 5 p.m. ET. A halt in Israeli attacks on Lebanon has been a key condition for U.S.-Iran negotiations to begin, according to the speaker of Iran’s parliament.
Trump also said the next round of in-person talks between the U.S. and Iran could happen “probably, maybe, next weekend.” Earlier this week, Trump said the Iran war was “very close to over” and claimed Tehran wants to “make a deal very badly.”
Outside the main indexes, quantum stocks kept surging on fresh excitement around Nvidia’s new open-source AI models aimed at advancing quantum computing.
Since the start of the week, IonQ and D-Wave Quantum have both jumped more than 50%, while Quantum Computing and Rigetti Computing are each up more than 30%. Bitcoin also stayed above $75,000, holding onto a modest rally for now.
