The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have broken records. The dollar has the longest period of decline since 2011

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices rose to new records on Wednesday, continuing their climb thanks to investors' hopes for a speedy end to the war with Iran. The price of Brent crude oil was virtually unchanged, while the dollar's series of declines reached its highest since 2011. Market optimism is supported by a strong start to the corporate reporting season, notes Bloomberg.

- The S&P 500 broad market index rose 0.8% in trading on April 15 to close at 7022.95 points, a new high. The S&P 500 rose for the 10th time out of the last 11 sessions on Wednesday.

- The blue-chip index Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15% to close at 48,463.72 points.

- The Nasdaq Composite Technology Sector Index rose 1.6 percent to 24,016 points. It also hit a new record high. This is the first time since Oct. 27, 2025, that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new highs on the same day, Barron's notes.

- The Russell 2000 index of small and mid-capitalization companies added 0.3% to 2,713.66 points.

- The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), known as the "Wall Street Fear Index," was down 1% to 18.2 points. The psychological mark indicating high volatility is considered to be 20 points.

- June futures for Mark Brent crude were virtually unchanged at around $94.9 per barrel, while contracts for U.S. WTI crude for May delivery were down 0.2% to $91 per barrel.

- The dollar weakened 0.06% to 98.07 points against a basket of other world currencies. The U.S. currency fell for the eighth consecutive session, the longest such streak since 2011, Barron's said.

- Gold was cheaper by 1% to $4793 a troy ounce.

- Bitcoin rose 1.07% overnight, reaching $75,066.78.

Hopes for the success of peace efforts between the U.S. and Iran have forced investors to increasingly exclude from quotations the risk premium, accumulated since late February, and once again focus on artificial intelligence and the sustainability of corporate America, writes Bloomberg. According to an agency source familiar with the situation, the U.S. and Iran are considering extending the truce, which expires April 21, for another two weeks to get more time for talks. Mediators are trying to organize technical consultations to settle the most contentious issues.

U.S. President Donald Trump gave investors more reasons to be optimistic, saying in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday that the war with Iran is "very close to being over" and reiterating that Iran is very eager to make a deal, CNBC writes. U.S. Treasury Department chief Scott Bessent, on the other hand, said the U.S. will not renew the general licenses that temporarily allowed deals with Russian and Iranian oil.

Investors are actively returning to stocks again, although there is still little clarity on the further course of the war, Bloomberg writes. The conflict has cut off about a fifth of the world's oil supplies and created a risk of accelerating inflation, which could still force central banks to tighten monetary policy, the agency emphasizes.

Investors have been especially active in recent days buying technology stocks, which have lagged the market for most of the year. In just two recent sessions, the popular iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, which tracks securities of software developers, rose 6.4%. Shares of Oracle soared 18%, while Microsoft and Palantir Technologies each added 6%. Broadcom shares were one of the key gainers Wednesday, adding 4.2% after Meta Platforms expanded its partnership with the chipmaker.

Shares of Bank of America and Morgan Stanley rose after their equity trading units reported earnings notably above expectations. Shares of Robinhood jumped 10.4% after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lifted restrictions on intraday trading for retail investors: previously, trading accounts had to hold at least $25,000.

On April 15, former merino wool eco-sneaker maker Allbirds unexpectedly announced that it was changing course: the company sold its shoe brand and will focus on providing AI computing in its own data center. Allbirds shares soared 582%, with gains of up to 876% at their highs.

- "Stocks are essentially reflecting [the market's] view that the Gulf War is pretty much over," Bloomberg quoted Interactive Brokers chief strategist Steve Sosnick as saying.

- "Before the war started, market participants had reduced risk in portfolios to some extent, expecting that things could possibly get dramatically worse, and now that that probability seems to have gotten lower, they feel the need to buy," Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, told CNBC. - People don't want to miss out on a rising market."

- "There seems to have been a rotation within the technology sector today, with investors selling strongly rising chip maker stocks and buying cheaper software developer stocks," Miller Tabak analyst Matt Maley told Bloomberg. - However, after such a strong rally in the technology sector, there may well be a respite in the near term, and that would be a normal and healthy development."

- "While we think it's reasonable to maintain a healthy amount of skepticism about this headline-fueled optimism, the underlying indicators of market breadth and trends are improving from the March lows - at least until the next headline shows otherwise," said Piper Sandler analyst Craig Johnson, quoted by Bloomberg.

- "We continue to see good upside potential for the market for the rest of this year from current S&P 500 levels amid strong earnings growth and a favorable macroeconomic backdrop," Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, investment director for the Americas and global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, told Bloomberg.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor