Wall Street indexes rally as oil falls with Strait of Hormuz opening
STORY: U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with the Dow jumping 1.8%, the S&P 500 climbing 1.2% and the Nasdaq rising 1.5%. It was the third straight record high close for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while the Dow marked its highest finish since late February. Investors on Friday cheered Iran's decision to open the Strait of Hormuz and were optimistic it could reach an agreement with the U.S. Amol Dhargalkar is chairman and managing partner at Chatham Financial. "Today is all about the good news coming out of the Middle East. We are seeing that reverberate across every aspect of the markets. We're seeing equity prices up. We're seeing oil prices down. We're seeing rates come down a little bit. You know, all of the concerns that have been overhanging the market for the last six weeks as the war in the Middle East raged on, seem to have gone to the wayside today with the expectations of a truce being announced between Iran and the United States." U.S. crude oil prices settled down nearly 10%. As a result, energy was the biggest loser among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, with Exxon Mobil down 3.5% and Chevron sliding more than 2%. Friday's biggest sector gainer was consumer discretionary, with cruise operator Carnival climbing 7% and Norwegian Cruise Line adding close to 5%. :: Netflix Elsewhere in the market, shares of Netflix dropped nearly 10% a day after forecasting current-quarter earnings below expectations and announcing the exit of co-founder and longtime Chairman Reed Hastings.
