Bessent said the US and Iran are close to a deal. And yes, we’ve lost count on these deals by now.

🐂 Animal spirits storm Wall Street

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 907 points, or 1.7%, to a record 54,085.88 Tuesday as the animal spirits on Wall Street staged a powerful comeback.
  • The S&P 500 gained 1.8% to a fresh record of 7,736.52, its first new high since June. The Nasdaq Composite outpaced both, soaring 671 points, or 2.6%, to 26,584.99 as traders enthusiastically reinstalled the AI trade.
  • Palantir exploded 29.5% after nearly and raising its annual forecast.
  • Caterpillar added 5.6% as AI-linked infrastructure demand strengthened its outlook, proving the data-center boom requires considerably more than chips, software and ambitious PowerPoint slides.

🛢️ Another Iran deal enters the chat

  • Crude oil futures sank roughly 5% to three-week lows after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US could be days away from an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar separately reported progress in diplomatic efforts.
  • Reopening the strait could ease fears of supply disruption across a route handling roughly one-fifth of global oil trade. Lower crude can reduce inflation, corporate costs and pressure on interest rates. That is a rather efficient three-for-one discount for stock bulls.
  • Markets have celebrated several potential Iran agreements already, so caution remains appropriate.
  • Yet they responded to the latest diplomatic signal as if this might be the one. Or they were just looking for reasons to load up on risk again.

🌏 Record rally travels across Asia

  • Earnings provided substance beneath the optimism: more than 85% of reporting S&P 500 companies have beaten expectations. Enough companies doing that means it’s a genuinely broad rally, rather than a handful of tech giants.
  • US stock futures edged higher early Wednesday, extending the record-setting momentum. The follow-through suggests traders were reluctant to fade Tuesday’s move immediately.
  • Meanwhile, AMD and SpaceX fell after their financial updates, offering a reminder that earnings season still contains trapdoors.
  • Asian equities joined the bull run. South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 4%, the small-cap Kosdaq gained around 2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied over 3%.