This content was published on <\/p>\n
April 16, 2026 – 22:04\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 US stocks held onto record highs as traders digested a flurry of headlines on the conflict in the Middle East, brushing aside warnings that the US-Iran war would continue to linger for months.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 edged up 0.3%, notching another all-time high after the benchmark closed above the 7,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday. President Donald Trump said prospects for a deal with Iran are \u201clooking very good.\u201d He said he believed Iran had agreed to terms it has long resisted, including giving up ambitions for a nuclear weapon. Tehran has not publicly confirmed it\u2019s made those concessions.<\/p>\n
Trump also announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. His announcement on Thursday made no mention of Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a video message that he\u2019d agreed to the truce. The update eased fears of a wider regional conflict that could threaten oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies.<\/p>\n
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.5% to a record high. The early hours of Thursday\u2019s session saw a sharp rally in technology stocks after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.\u2019s upbeat revenue outlook highlighted the resilience of AI chip demand. The gain marked the benchmark\u2019s longest winning streak since 2017.<\/p>\n
Brent crude traded around $98.15 a barrel after approaching nearly $100 when some Gulf Arab and European leaders indicated that a US-Iran peace deal will take about six months to be reached, according to people familiar with the matter. Treasury yields rose modestly, with the rate on the benchmark 10-year at 4.31%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is yet another sign of headline fatigue as it relates to the war in the Gulf region,\u201d according to BMO\u2019s Ian Lyngen. \u201cThe prevailing consolidation pattern is also suggestive that the influence of fresh geopolitical headlines is waning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to market concerns, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called on US authorities to prepare a back-up plan in order to avert a potential collapse in demand for the $31 trillion market for US government debt \u2014 an event that he warned would have \u201cvicious\u201d effects.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, delegates at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington have cautioned that markets are underestimating the war\u2019s economic damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors have become conditioned to buy every dip,\u201d said Michael Bell, head of market strategy at RBC BlueBay Asset Management. \u201cThe outlook is binary, either Hormuz reopens soon or it doesn\u2019t. With equity markets already assuming Hormuz will reopen soon, the upside is perhaps limited.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Bloomberg\u2019s Strategists Say:<\/p>\n
\u201cA record high for stocks doesn\u2019t imply that risks have returned to where they were in January; investors just seem to be underpricing how much riskier the world is now. The S&P 500\u2019s fresh peak suggests, on the surface, that risks have diminished below where they were at the end of February. Yet investors are still demanding a higher risk premium now versus then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Sebastian Boyd, Macro Strategist, Markets Live<\/p>\n
For the full analysis, click here.<\/p>\n
Microsoft Corp. outperformed among the Magnificent Seven with a 2% advance. Tesla Inc. slumped on news that the firm\u2019s Cybertruck sales have been propped up by Elon Musk\u2019s other companies, including SpaceX. Allbirds Inc. tumbled after soaring on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Claudia Panseri of UBS Wealth Management said her exposure to artificial intelligence stocks is focused on the US and China and is \u201cmore selective\u201d than two years ago. \u201cWe also prefer companies which are still investing using cash, rather than companies issuing bonds,\u201d Panseri told Bloomberg Television.<\/p>\n
In economic data, initial jobless claims for the week through April 11 fell more than expected, reinforcing investor confidence in the economy\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n
Corporate News:<\/p>\n
Charles Schwab Corp. reported first-quarter assets that topped estimates as the brokerage continued to attract the wealth of retail investors even amid geopolitical uncertainty. Sales of Tesla Inc.\u2019s Cybertruck have been propped up in recent months by Elon Musk\u2019s other companies, an unusual arrangement that further indicates the polarizing pickup is failing to appeal to everyday buyers. PepsiCo Inc.\u2019s quarterly revenue and earnings beat expectations, as the maker of Doritos and Lay\u2019s sees improvement in salty snacks volume following recent price cuts. Pernod Ricard SA expects the war in the Middle East to drive sales down as much as 4% for the year as it continues to struggle with weak demand in the US and China. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. booked a 58% surge in profit, a sign that the Middle East war in its first few weeks did not depress booming AI investment. Elon Musk\u2019s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers including Applied Materials Inc., Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Lam Research Corp. for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. EasyJet Plc shares fell the most since 2022 after the UK budget airline warned of a loss in the first half of this fiscal year because of disruptions from the Iran war. Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% The MSCI World Index rose 0.2% Currencies<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1782 The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3531 The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.15 per dollar Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Bitcoin rose 0.8% to $75,474.38 Ether was little changed at $2,362.79 Bonds<\/p>\n
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.31% Germany\u2019s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.03% Britain\u2019s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.85% Commodities<\/p>\n
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.5% to $93.54 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u2013With assistance from Andre Janse van Vuuren, Neil Campling, Subrat Patnaik and Ruhell Amin.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on April 16, 2026 – 22:04 (Bloomberg) \u2014 US stocks held onto record highs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,6144,85,46,6145],"class_list":{"0":"post-395828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-business-general","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}