Wall St climbs on Mideast de-escalation hopes but monthly losses loom

By Purvi Agarwal and Twesha Dikshit

March 31 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes advanced on Tuesday, as investors cheered a report signaling potential de-escalation in the Middle East conflict that has set the S&P 500 and the Dow on track for their biggest monthly decline in nearly four years.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump told aides he was willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed.

The month-long conflict has left the S&P 500 and the Dow on track for their largest quarterly falls since early 2022. The S&P 500 energy index is the only sector poised to end March in positive territory, and log its biggest quarterly jump on record, tracking a rally in oil prices.

“What we’ve seen from a messaging standpoint from the administration is a bit of indication they may start to either wind down or pivot,” said Alonso Munoz, CIO at Hamilton Capital Partners.

“You get these periods where the market gets so oversold that you just have relief rallies on any indication that there’s good news.”

The S&P 500 technology index added 1.6% as chipmakers staged a recovery with Nvidia and Broadcom up 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively.

Tech stocks faced a selloff earlier this quarter, especially software stocks as concerns mounted over AI-driven disruption and lofty capital spending on the technology.

Coreweave rose 5.3% after securing an $8.5 billion loan to expand AI infrastructure. Marvell Technology added 7.5% after Nvidia invested $2 billion in the firm.

A 3.9% rise in Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s 2.8% gain lifted the communication services index up 2.3%.

Nine out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors were in the green.

“If earnings perform well over the next month and a half, financials and technology could really catch up to the rest of the market and have significant outperformance,” said Munoz.

At 11:55 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 445.59 points, or 0.99%, to 45,663.12, the S&P 500 gained 84.31 points, or 1.33%, to 6,427.88 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 373.77 points, or 1.80%, to 21,168.20.

Last week, the Dow and the Nasdaq ended 10% below their record high closes, confirming a correction. The small-cap Russell 2000 confirmed it earlier this month.

U.S. job openings fell more than expected in February and hiring dropped to the lowest level in nearly six years, government data showed.

The oil spike stemming from the Iran conflict has revived inflation worries, prompting money market participants to price out any easing from the Fed this year, compared with two cuts expected before the war broke out, per CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Among other movers, McCormick shares fell 5.6%. Unilever agreed to separate its food unit and merge it with McCormick in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing the spice maker at about $44.8 billion.

Constellation Energy dipped 8.3% after forecasting 2026 profit below Wall Street expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.86-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 5 new 52-week highs and 7 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 126 new lows.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Devika Syamnath)