NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices sank Wednesday, and stock markets rallied worldwide with hopes that the United States and Iran are nearing a deal to allow ships to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf once again to their customers.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 7.8% to $101.27, down from more than $115 early this week. It dropped as President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could be “OPEN TO ALL” if Iran accepts a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.

The small strait has caused big trouble for the global economy because the war with Iran has blocked oil tankers from using it to exit the Persian Gulf. A reopening could allow oil to flow freely again and remove upward pressure on inflation that’s driving prices up for all kinds of products worldwide.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 1.5% for its best day in nearly a month and hit another all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 612 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2% to its own record.

Stock markets abroad had even bigger gains, with indexes leaping 6.5% in Seoul, 2.9% in Paris and 2.1% in London.

Of course, hopes have risen several times already on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, only to get dashed each time. That could happen again, and oil prices pared some of their steepest losses from Wednesday morning.

The price for a barrel of Brent briefly dove below $97 before returning above $100 after Trump threatened to start bombing “at a much higher level and intensity” if Iran does not accept the agreement.

Wall Street nevertheless latched onto some potentially encouraging signals. Trump said Tuesday he was pausing his effort to forcefully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships. And China’s foreign minister called for a comprehensive ceasefire following a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. That could be influential because of how closely tied Iran is to China economically and politically.

In the meantime, big U.S. companies continue to turn in much stronger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected. That’s supporting the stock market despite all the uncertainties created by the war.

AMD helped lead the market with a surge of 18.6% after it joined the list of big-name companies topping expectations for both profit and revenue. CEO Lisa Su said the chip company benefited from continued growth from artificial-intelligence technology, which is demanding tremendous amounts of computing power from data centers.

Source: WPLG