Wall Street indexes gain as investors hold out hope for US-Iran resolution

Wall Street indexes gain as investors hold out hope for US-Iran resolution

By Sinéad Carew and Niket Nishant

Mon April 13, 2026  

With the Iranian business falling apart over the weekend, it would have been an easy call for the markets to slump today and become a short-sellers fiesta. But that’s what makes the markets fun because exactly the opposite happened. All three indexes opened in the red, the Dow particularly bad at a minus 400, but right around the noon hour, everything started rebounding. Part of this was the on again-off again nature of the negotiations which has left investors immune to the war news. Another part was Trump once again announcing that Iran was back at the table.  

It helps a lot that “especially in the midst of this ceasefire, it seems to be holding for the moment.” But experts attribute most of the rally to a runup on Q1 reporting, of which many of the major banks will be turning in results on Tuesday and there is a fear of missing out. All in all, the Dow and Nasdaq had nice 3-digit gains and the S&P rose enough to officially recoup all losses from the war. Oil again has dropped below the critical $100 mark and the defensive sectors were the only ones to lose ground, indicating increased risk appetite. But of course uncertainty remains, reflected in the way-below average volume of 15.9 billion vs the 19.07 4-week average.  

DJ: 47,916.57  -269.23        NAS: 22,902.89   +80.48        S&P: 6,816.89  -7.77             4/10

DJ: 48,218.25  +301.68       NAS: 23,183.74  +280.84       S&P: 6,886.24  +69.35           4/13

Mon 4-13-26 5:30 pm Wall Street indexes gain as investors hold out hope for US-Iran resolution | Reuters