S&P, Nasdaq close at records on Iran ceasefire extension, earnings

S&P, Nasdaq close at records on Iran ceasefire extension, earnings

By Chuck Mikolajczak and Niket Nishant

Wed April 22, 2026

Yesterday, sentiment switched to being about the war with the expert saying, “it’s baffling to me that people think it’s going to be okay.” But with Trump’s after-hours announcement of an indefinite extension of the ceasefire, the market got its wish as all three indexes skyrocketed right out the gate and all three closing with all new record highs. So once again investors get to focus on Q1 earnings which continue to come in strong. Today’s sentiment on the war has switched to, “Everyone’s kind of sick of it … clearly the market is looking for a beneficial outcome.” 

But there’s also tremendous incentive to take advantage of market value as “there’s a lot of really cheap stuff out there.” Inflation remains a major concern as oil approaches the $100 mark again and there is also concern that the Q1 optimism may not sustain if the war continues longer. But the S&P tech index did climb 2.3% and the Philly chip index notched 16 straight days of gains. Considerable uncertainty still lingers reflected in the 16.08 billion daily volume, considerably below the 18.3 billion average. 

DJ: 49,149.38  -293.18        NAS: 24,259.96  -144.43        S&P: 7,064.01  -45.13           4/21

DJ: 49,490.03  +340.65       NAS: 24,657.57  +397.60       S&P: 7,137.90  +73.89           4/22

Wed 4-22-26 5:20 pm S&P, Nasdaq close at records on Iran ceasefire extension, earnings | Reuters