Futures Near Flat After S&P 500 Nears All-Time High; Oil Prices Gain as Investors Assess Iran Developments

Why Oracle Is One of the Biggest Winners of This Week’s Rally So Far

FROM 14 minutes ago

Optimism around new deals and AI offerings has made Oracle one of the biggest winners of this week’s rally. Could it help pull the stock out of its recent slump?

Shares of Oracle (ORCL) climbed close to 5% Tuesday, after jumping nearly 13% Monday, after the cloud computing giant announced an expansion of its partnership with Bloom Energy (BE) to power its expanding network of data centers. Oracle also announced a new suite of agentic AI products Tuesday.1

The gains have made Oracle the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 for the week so far, at a time when markets rallied broadly amid hopes a deal to end the war in Iran could come soon.

Read the full article here.

–Aaron McDade

The Iran War Isn’t Over, So Why Are Stocks Back Near Record Highs?

FROM 50 minutes ago

In the Middle East, not much has changed on the ground in the past week—fighting continues in Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, and negotiators left this weekend’s peace talks empty-handed. On Wall Street, traders see things differently.

The S&P 500 gained 1.2% on Tuesday, boosted by optimism for a lasting agreement between the U.S. and Iran that will end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which caused energy prices to skyrocket. Tuesday’s gains put the benchmark index at a two-month high and just 11 points, or 0.2%, away from an all-time closing high.

“There is a clear ‘mission accomplished’ tone being priced into markets as the ceasefire appears to be holding and talks set to move forward,” wrote Jake Behan, head of capital markets at ETF provider Direxion, on Tuesday.  

Optimism was buoyed on Tuesday by reports the U.S. and Iran will resume negotiations this week, as well as a much softer-than-expect wholesale inflation report that eased some fears about the effect a spike in oil prices will have on inflation in the coming months. Investors are also confident that corporate America had a strong first quarter, with analysts forecasting double-digit profit growth for the S&P 500.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Stock Futures Little Changed After S&P 500 Nears All-Time High

FROM 1 hr 19 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were fractionally lower.

S&P 500 futures also were slightly below flat.

Nasdaq 100 futures were fractionally lower as well.