The US and Iran send signals of conflict de-escalation, and the three major US stock indices all surge.

Ask AI · Why the easing of tensions between Iran and the U.S. sparked a tech-stock frenzy?

On March 31, local time, all three major U.S. stock indexes closed sharply higher. The Dow rose more than 1,100 points, up 2.49%; the Nasdaq jumped 3.83%; and the S&P 500 rose 2.91%, marking the largest single-day gain since May last year.

In terms of news, according to CCTV News, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth said on March 31 that the United States’ current “top priority” is to seek an agreement to end the war with Iran. On the same day, Iranian President Pezeshkian said Iran is willing to end the war, but only if its demands are met, especially with guarantees that it will not be subjected to aggression again.

Also, according to Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President Trump said in the evening of March 31 at the White House that the United States will end the war with Iran within “two to three weeks,” and may reach an agreement with Iran before then.

Large technology stocks became the main driver of this round of rebound. META surged 6.67%, NVIDIA rose 5.59%, Google climbed 5.14%, Tesla gained 4.64%, Amazon rose 3.64%, Microsoft increased 3.12%, and Apple rose 2.9%.

Financial stocks rose across the board: JPMorgan Chase climbed more than 3%, Goldman Sachs rose more than 4%, Citigroup gained more than 5%, Morgan Stanley rose nearly 4%, Bank of America increased more than 3%, and Wells Fargo rose more than 3%.

Aviation stocks also moved higher collectively. Boeing rose more than 5%, American Airlines rose more than 5%, Delta Air Lines gained more than 5%, Southwest Airlines rose more than 3%, and United Airlines surged more than 8%.

Meanwhile, Chinese concept stocks also saw broad gains. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 2.80%. By individual stock, Weyn (Wayne) surged more than 13%, Pony AI rose more than 10%, NIO rose more than 9%, Hesai Technology rose nearly 8%, iQIYI rose more than 6%, CenturyLink (Chinayun) rose more than 5%, and Vipshop fell more than 1%.

It’s worth noting that although the broader market rebounded strongly, the energy sector fell 1.12% against the trend. Earlier, due to the ongoing conflict, the sector’s cumulative gain in March had reached 10%.

International oil prices were mixed on March 31. By the close that day, the May-delivery light sweet crude oil futures price on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $1.50 to $101.38 per barrel, a decline of 1.46%; the May-delivery London Brent crude oil futures price rose by $5.57 to $118.35 per barrel, an increase of 4.94%.

Yang Deyong, Chief Economist at Qianhai Open-Source Fund, told Jiemian News that crude oil prices are currently trading in a high-range volatile pattern, and the subsequent trend will mainly depend on when the war ends. If a substantial ceasefire can be achieved in April, and the Strait of Hormuz gradually opens up, international oil prices may retreat accordingly; but if the war still cannot be ended in April, oil prices could remain at elevated levels for a longer period.

Despite the sharp rebound on Tuesday, all three major U.S. stock indexes still posted overall losses in March and in the first quarter. The S&P 500 fell 5.1% in March, the worst monthly performance since 2022; the Dow fell 5.4% in March, ending the previous streak of gains for 10 straight months; and the Nasdaq fell 4.8% in March. Looking across the first quarter, the Nasdaq posted the largest decline, down more than 7%; the S&P 500 fell 4.6%, and the Dow fell 3.6%.