Traders celebrating at the New York Stock Exchange on April 15, 2026, as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed above the 7,000 level for the first time in history, setting a new record high.
NYSE
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to fresh all-time intraday highs on Thursday, adding to their strong gains this week on optimism for a possible resolution to the Iran war.
The broad market index gained 0.26% to close at 7,041.28, while the Nasdaq gained 0.36% to settle at 24,102.70. The tech-heavy index posted its 12th consecutive winning session, notching its longest winning run since 2009. Both averages also logged closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 115 points, or 0.24%, and ended at 48,578.72.
This week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen 3.3% and 5.2%, respectively, while the Dow has advanced more than 1%.
Stocks received a bump Thursday after President Donald Trump confirmed he spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a to a 10-day ceasefire, which will begin at 5 p.m. ET.
Israel halting its attacks on Lebanon has been a key condition for U.S.-Iran negotiations starting, the speaker of Iran’s parliament has said.
For the U.S. and Iran, the next round of in-person talks may occur “probably, maybe, next weekend,” Trump said Thursday. He had said earlier this week that the Iran war is “very close to over,” claiming that Tehran wants to “make a deal very badly.”
Stocks have risen in recent days on hopes for an eventual peace deal between the two nations. The S&P 500 kicked off the week by wiping out all of its losses since the beginning of the Iran war.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit key milestones on Wednesday, with the former closing above 7,000 for the first time and the latter seeing its first close above 24,000. The Nasdaq also posted its 11th consecutive day of gains — the index’s longest win streak since Nov. 8, 2021.
But even if a U.S.-Iran peace deal were to come to fruition in the near term like investors anticipate, there could still be some market volatility approaching due to the war’s potential impact on the U.S. economy.
“We are going to have to weather a couple subpar quarters of GDP,” said Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. “Everyone’s kind of just been waiting for Iran to sort of work itself out, and that’ll be a big positive, but the economy is still [at] 2% growth. We’ll probably get a couple quarters under 2% here.”
“I don’t know if the markets are prepared for that,” he added.
