Oil prices soar, and stocks end mixed in volatile trade

Oil prices soar, and stocks end mixed in volatile trade

By Chris Prentice and Marc Jones

Thu April 2, 2026 8:18 PM  

Wall Street rallied like crazy the last two days almost entirely due to expectations that Trump would be announcing the end of the war last night. Then he did exactly the opposite, not only no end but at least a few more weeks of even more intense fighting. All the optimism faded and there was a huge crash right at open, the Dow coming down almost 700 points with the other indexes following suit. But it must have been the case come 10 a.m. that sentiment switched to business as usual as investors knew full well that it’s difficult to interpret Trump.  

Wall Street ends higher on speculation about end to Iran war

Wall Street ends higher on speculation about end to Iran war

By Noel Randewich and Purvi Agarwal

Wed April 1, 2026  

For a second straight day, optimism over an end to the war has sent stocks further up from yesterday’s huge rallies. Investors continue to choose to believe the Trump news or, as today’s expert put it, “We have Trump’s comments, which tend to change a bit. Everybody’s trying to guess as to what he really means by what he’s saying. The markets want it to be positive, they want the war to be over.” Today’s gains have lifted the S&P’s losses for the year to 4% vs yesterday’s 4.7%.