Wall Street rebounds after Trump hints war could end soon — oil falls on Russia sanctions-easing report

Wall Street stocks recovered from a steep intraday selloff to close higher on Day 10 of the Iran war. All three indexes — S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq — staged a final-hour rebound. The catalyst: US President Trump told a Republican fundraiser that the war was 'very far ahead' of his initial four-to-five-week estimated time frame — implying the conflict could conclude sooner than markets had priced in. Early in the trading session, crude oil prices reached their highest levels since mid-2022 as Hormuz remained closed and Bahrain's Bapco refinery burned. However, crude prices fell sharply in the afternoon after sources said the Trump administration is considering easing oil sanctions against Russia — which would release Russian oil supply back into global markets and offset some of the Iran supply disruption. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research: 'There is still an awful lot of uncertainty out there regarding the duration of the conflict, as well as the duration of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Again today, seeing such a relative reversal in price movements indicates that investors are looking for any opportunity to jump back into the equity markets.' The intraday volatility — steep morning losses reversed by afternoon rally — reflects investors oscillating between war-duration fear and ceasefire hope on every Trump headline.