The entire market is rising! Middle East, new developments

【Briefing】Overnight U.S. stocks rise; the three major indexes extend a two-day winning streak

Overnight U.S. stocks strengthened, with the three major indexes rising for two consecutive days.

U.S. stocks open higher and close higher

On Tuesday, March 17 (U.S. Eastern Time), U.S. stocks opened higher and closed up, with the three major indexes posting a two-day gain this week.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 46993.26; the S&P 500 rose 0.25% to 6716.09; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.47% to 22479.53.

The U.S. tech “Magnificent Seven” index rose 0.43%, while large-cap tech stocks finished mixed. Alphabet-C rose 1.64%, Amazon rose 1.63%, Tesla rose 0.94%, and Apple rose 0.56%; Microsoft fell 0.14%, NVIDIA fell 0.70%, and Meta fell 0.76%.

Oil rises more than 2% intraday

NYMEX WTI crude oil futures were up 2.70% on the day; on March 18, the futures benchmark opened lower.

According to the latest report from CCTV News, the U.S. government plans to further ease sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, in order to increase crude oil production amid an Iran-war backdrop that is pushing up oil prices, thereby easing global energy supply tightness.

Energy stocks rose. Halliburton gained more than 4%, Baker Hughes rose more than 3%, and BP and SLB rose more than 2%.

Aviation stocks surge across the board

United Airlines rose more than 7%, Delta Air Lines rose more than 6%, and American Airlines, United Airlines, and others all closed higher.

Latest updates on the situation in the Middle East

According to Xinhua News Agency, in the early hours of the 18th, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a statement confirming that Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, died in an airstrike.

According to CCTV News, on the 17th local time, the Chairman of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, Kalibaf, posted on a social media platform saying the Strait of Hormuz would not return to pre-war conditions. Earlier, on March 13, Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei issued his first statement after taking office, saying Iran would continue to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has repeatedly stated that the Strait of Hormuz is under strict naval control by the IRGC, “and the United States and its allies have no right of passage.”

In addition, according to a CCTV News report citing foreign media, the Pentagon is increasing troop deployments to the Middle East, and the Japan-based U.S. amphibious assault ship “Tripoli” is currently heading to the Middle East.