Dow rises 600 points as oil retreats on Iran deal progress; AMD jumps after earnings: Live updates

Stocks rose on Wednesday following a report that the U.S. and Iran were nearing an agreement to end the war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 675 points, or 1.4%. The S&P 500 advanced 1.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.8%.

Axios reported, citing sources, that the U.S. and Iran were getting close to a deal that would bring a resolution to the conflict. According to the report, the agreement would include a moratorium on nuclear enrichment. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson also told CNBC that Iran was evaluating a U.S. proposal toward a resolution.

President Donald Trump signaled later Wednesday that a deal was not certain, however, saying it was a "perhaps, a big assumption" Iran would agree to the U.S. proposal. Equity prices came off their highs following the post.

"If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump also said late Tuesday that he is pausing "Project Freedom," the U.S.'s plan to guide ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. In a Truth Social post, he cited "the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran," as a driver behind the decision.

Oil prices plunged as traders pared exposure on hopes the war would end soon. West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 6%, trading above $95 per barrel. International Brent lost 7% to trade above $101.

"If we truly achieve a point in time here where the hostilities begin to slow down or, in fact, stop in their entirety, and we see the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, this will allow some of those most economically sensitive and hardest hit regions like Southeast Asia, like Europe, potentially avoid their own economic difficulties," said Bill Northey, investment director at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group. That's "setting up for a snapback in equity markets," he continued.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices added to the gains, soaring 17% after the company issued a rosy outlook for the second quarter. AMD also beat expectations on the top and bottom lines in the first quarter. The report lifted the broader chipmaker sector. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) jumped 4%. Intel climbed 2%.

Stocks posted strong gains Tuesday, lifted by strong earnings and the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. remaining in place.

All but two S&P 500 sectors were in positive territory in late afternoon trading on Wednesday.

Industrials was the leader, rising 2.7%, followed by information technology with a rise of 2.2%. Materials saw the third highest gain, as it advanced 2.1%.

The only two groups in the red were energy and utilities. Those fell 4.2% and 1.2%, respectively.

Lower-income consumers are compensating for higher gas prices by buying less while those in higher-income brackets haven't changed their behavior much at all despite soaring costs, according to research released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve of New York.

In fact, during the March energy price spike, households earning less than $40,000 a year increased gas spending by the least of all income groups. The group accelerated nominal gas spending by just 12%, the product of cutting consumption by 7%, according to a blog post by New York Fed researchers.

By comparison, high-income households, defined as those earning more than $125,000 a year, raised their spending by 19%, as they only cut real gas consumption by 1%. Read more.

Here are the stocks making headlines in midday trading:

Read here for the full list of names.

Morgan Stanley sees more room for Sphere Entertainment to run following a strong earnings report.

Analyst Daniel Duran hiked his price target for the entertainment venue stock by $12 to $170 per share, signaling upside of 24.5% over Tuesday's close. Duran also reiterated his overweight rating.

Duran's price hike follows Sphere's report for first-quarter revenue of $386.4 million, exceeding expectations for $368.2 million from analysts polled by FactSet. Sphere said its adjusted operating income came in at $110 million, up from $36 million in the same period a year prior.

The stock climbed around 5% in midday trading Wednesday. Shares are up more than 50% in 2026, on track for their fourth straight winning year.

Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su told CNBC on Wednesday that her massive forecast revision was due to the demand surge for central processing units led by the growth of agentic artificial intelligence.

"Agents are really driving tremendous demand in the overall AI adoption cycle, and we're very excited to be in the middle of it." Su told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

The company beat analyst estimates on Tuesday for both earnings per share and revenue in the first-quarter. Revenue climbed 38% year-over-year, with Su highlighting the company's data center business as the primary driver.

"The main thing that I can say is that we are seeing a shifting of the workload," Su told CNBC, adding that the demand picture became clearer over the last 90 days after talks with the company's largest customers.

Higher gasoline prices and mounting geopolitical tensions are doing little to slow the American consumer — at least judging by the latest results and commentary from Uber Technologies and The Walt Disney Company.

The two companies pointed to a remarkably resilient spending backdrop, with consumers continuing to shell out for rides, food delivery, vacations and theme park trips even as oil prices climb and broader concerns about the economy linger. Read more.

Oracle may be down more than 40% from its all-time highs in September, but Barclays thinks the stock is set to jump higher. 

The bank in a Wednesday note reiterated its outperform rating and $240 price target. That indicates a 29% gain from Tuesday's close. Analyst Raimo Lenschow said that dueling worries about artificial intelligence disrupting software companies and the AI buildout being overdone are weighing on Oracle. However, Lenschow notes that these narratives contradict each other.

"Oracle is changing significantly and with that will be one of the main compute providers in the new AI world," he wrote in the note. "However, while other vendors in the same position are all up meaningfully over the past months - Oracle shares are down for the year. This does not make sense to us and creates an interesting opportunity for investors."

Lenschow added that while investors are worried about Oracle's high credit default swaps levels, he said they are being used as insurance against more than just the company's debt, but for other AI projects related to Oracle too. And while he projects upside ahead, Oracle shares have already rebounded nearly 36% from their February lows. 

— Davis Giangiulio

U.S. equities saw gains on Wednesday morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 509 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6%, along with the Nasdaq Composite.

Nvidia, the chipmaker at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, is partnering with glassmaker Corning for three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas dedicated entirely to optical technologies for the world's most valuable semiconductor company.

The factories will lead to the creation of at least 3,000 jobs and increase Corning's U.S. optical manufacturing capacity by 10-fold, the companies said in a joint press release on Wednesday.

Financial terms weren't disclosed. Corning shares soared 17% on the news. Nvidia stock gained nearly 2%.

Private sector job creation was stronger than expected in April, providing more evidence of a stable labor market and less incentive for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates amid persistently higher inflation, ADP reported Wednesday.

The payrolls processing firm said companies added 109,000 jobs for the month, a step up from the 61,000 created in March and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 84,000. The March total was revised down by 1,000. Read more.

Despite reports that the U.S. and Iran were nearing a deal that would bring a resolution to the conflict and open the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was a "big assumption" that Iran would agree to the U.S. proposal.

"If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Oil prices fell Wednesday following an Axios report that the administration is getting close to a one-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war and create a framework for detailed nuclear talks.

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:

Oil prices plunged as traders pared exposure on hopes the war would end soon. West Texas Intermediate futures dropped nearly 9% to around $93 per barrel. International Brent lost 7.7% to trade near $101.

European markets roared into the green on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 surging 2.1% following reports that U.S. and Iran could be nearing a deal to end the two-month-long conflict in the Middle East.  

Major bourses in London, Paris, Frankfurt each soared more than 2% in mid-morning trade. Mining and autos stocks popped 4.5%, as banks and construction companies also notched strong gains.

But energy stocks went into reverse on the back of falling oil prices, as investors weighed up an Axios report claiming that the U.S. and Iran are working on a one-page, 14-point memo agreement to end the war.

The plan reportedly involves Iran committing to a moratorium on its nuclear enrichment plans in exchange for Washington pledging to lift sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, with both sides agreeing to lift restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz.

With a potential off-ramp coming into view, borrowing costs in the continent also fell. The yield on 10-year Gilts — the benchmark for U.K. government debt — dropped more than 8 basis points to 4.973%, while 10-year German bund yields were more than 6 basis points lower at 3.0027%.

A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry told CNBC that Tehran is "evaluating" a 14-article peace proposal from the U.S.

South Korea's Kospi closed at another record Wednesday as Asia-Pacific markets saw a broad rally, tracking Wall Street gains overnight after oil prices dropped and strong earnings lifted investor sentiment.

West Texas Intermediate futures for June were 1.51% lower at $100.73 per barrel as of 3:14 a.m. ET. Brent crude futures for July declined 1.48% to $108.23 per barrel.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 6.45% to close at 7,384.56, building on its more than 70% annual gains as of last close, after markets resumed trading following a holiday. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics reached a record high, rising over 14% to cross $1 trillion in market-cap.

The small-cap Kosdaq index slipped 0.29% to 1,210.17.

China's CSI 300 added 1.45% to 4,877.09 as it resumed trading after Labor Day break. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.62%, while the Hang Seng Tech index gained 1.05%.

India's Nifty 50 was flat. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to close at 8,793.6.

Japan stock market was closed due to a holiday. The yen had strengthened more than 1% against the greenback to 156.15 earlier in the day.

South Korea's Kospi hit another record Wednesday as Asia-Pacific markets opened higher, tracking Wall Street gains overnight after oil prices dropped and strong earnings lifted investor sentiment.

The Kospi advanced 6.68% to scale a new peak, topping 7,000 as it builds on its more than 70% gains this year so far, after markets resumed trading following a holiday.

Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics reached a record high, rising over 15% to cross $1 trillion in market capitalization. SK Hynix also reached an all-time high, gaining more than 10%. The small-cap Kosdaq index slipped 0.88%.

China's CSI 300 added 1.62% as it resumed trading after the Labor Day break. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.62%, while the Hang Seng Tech index gained 1.05%.

India's Nifty 50 was 0.72% higher. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.87%.

Japan market was closed for a holiday.

West Texas Intermediate futures for June was 1.78% lower at $100.45 per barrel as of 11:40 p.m. ET. Brent crude futures for July declined 1.70% to $108.00 per barrel.

These are the stocks moving the most in extended-hours trading:

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

On Tuesday, all 11 of the GICS sectors ended the session higher.

Gains were led by materials and information technology stocks. The sectors respectively rose 1.67% and 1.63%.

On the other hand, the utilities and financials sectors both eked out increases of just 0.01%.

S&P 500 futures traded 0.1% higher shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday night. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 48 points, or 0.1%.