S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records on tech lift, Iran peace talk hopes

S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records on tech lift, Iran peace talk hopes

By Chuck Mikolajczak and Niket Nishant

Fri April 24, 2026

Two key events that likely happened right after the open were Iran sending their foreign minister to Pakistan to try to restart peace talks and the DOJ dropping the investigation again Powell. As all the indexes opened near flat but then almost immediately started zooming up and up until 12 pm, at which time they leveled off and remained steady the rest of the day resulting in a nice 3-digit gain on the Nasdaq and putting both tech indexes at four consecutive weeks of gains, their longest streak in over a year.  

Much of the boost to the tech sectors was triggered by a weakening of concern about AI ROI which had been hampering AI for a while. And as is usually the case, the rise in tech resulted in a corresponding loss in industrials as investors flee the safety of the Dow for the profits in tech, the Dow falling over 300 points in the morning but gradually recovering all but 79 of these losses. War news, due to all the back and forth, continues to be on the backburner as investors remain focused on Q1with earnings growth now expected at 16.1%, up from 15.6% yesterday and 14.4 in early April. Volume creeps closer to the 18.39 average, closing today at 17.81 billion. 

DJ: 49,310.32  -179.71         NAS: 24,438.50  -219.06        S&P: 7,108.40  -29.50           4/23

DJ: 49,230.71  -79.61           NAS: 24,836.60  +398.09       S&P: 7,165.08  +56.68         4/24

Fri 4-24-26 4:40 pm S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records on tech lift, Iran peace talk hopes | Reuters