Stock market news for April 17, 2026

U.S. stocks rocketed higher on Friday after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz “completely open” on the heels of a ceasefire announcement between Israel and Lebanon.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.2% to close at 7,126.06, crossing the 7,100 threshold for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.52% and settled at 24,468.48 for its 13th consecutive winning day and its longest positive streak since 1992. Both indexes posted fresh intraday and closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 868.71 points, or 1.79%, to end at 49,447.43. The Russell 2000 also reached a fresh high. The small-cap index rose more than 2%.

In a post on X published Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote, “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.”

President Donald Trump had said Thursday that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, which went into effect at 5 p.m. ET that day.

Oil prices plummeted following Iran’s announcement as supply disruption fears lessened. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures dropped almost 12% to settle at $83.85 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures declined 9% to settle at $90.38 a barrel.

Trump, who thanked Iran for opening the strait in a post on Truth Social Friday, said in a separate post that the Middle Eastern country has agreed to never close the waterway again. He also said in a post that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports will “REMAIN IN FULL FORCE” until a peace agreement with Tehran has been reached, adding that “THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED.”

The strait’s reopening could be limited, however, as Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that ships and cargos linked to hostile nations won’t be allowed to move through, for instance. The Tasnim report also said the strait will be closed if the U.S. blockade persists.

It is still uncertain whether ships will be forced to pay a toll to traverse the waterway.

Stocks in key industries vulnerable to the strait’s effective closure, such as cruise lines and airlines, rebounded. Shares of Boeing and Royal Caribbean, for instance, advanced 2% and 7%, respectively. Others such as Amazon and Airbnb also moved higher.

Investors are now “moving beyond this conflict,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial. “I think the market has walked back the worst-case scenarios, and it sees a path for the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict and the Strait of Hormuz to remain open. As long as that remains the most likely path, then markets will discount it.”

Trump had said Thursday that the Iran war “should be ending pretty soon.” He made the remarks at an event in Las Vegas and described the conflict as “going along swimmingly.” That builds on his comments from earlier this week that the war is “very close to over” and that Iran wants to “make a deal very badly.”

Hopes of a peace deal have propelled stocks to record highs this week, with the three major averages all posting solid gains in the period. The blue-chip Dow added 3.2%, while the S&P 500 rose 4.5% and the Nasdaq advanced 6.8%.

“The easy part of this rally is probably behind us,” Saglimbene also said. “Moving forward, particularly for technology, particularly for [the ‘Magnificent Seven’], we need to see not only earnings meet analyst estimates, but we need to see that the outlooks are strong.”