James Gruber

Brent crude futures settled almost 8% lower to just above US$101 a barrel.

Base metal prices were mixed on Wednesday.

Copper futures soared 3.3% on peace deal optimism, while aluminium futures declined 1.2% as a possible Iran deal eased supply fears.

Let's take a look at currencies.

They were higher against the US dollar on improved risk appetite.

The euro rose 0.5% to 1.1747 US dollars.

The Japanese yen advanced almost 1% to 156.41 yen.

And the Aussie dollar jumped 0.8% to 72.37 US cents.

Let's head to Wall Street.

The Dow Jones index finished up 1.2%, the S&P 500 was 1.5% higher, and the Nasdaq climbed 2%.

A closer look at the trading day there.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq jumped to record highs on Wednesday, buoyed by signs of a resolution in the Middle East conflict, while strong earnings from advanced micro devices sparked a rally in chipmakers and other AI-related stocks.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by industrials up 2.6%, followed by information technology.

Advanced micro-devices soared 19% to a record high after forecasting quarterly revenue above expectations on robust demand for its data center chips.

The semiconductor index jumped almost 5%, bringing its 2026 gain to almost 60%.

Corning surged 12% after saying it was partnering with NVIDIA to expand U.S.

production of optical connectivity products used in AI data centers.

NVIDIA climbed almost 6%.

Walt Disney rose almost 8% after the entertainment firm beat estimates for second quarter results.

Uber Technologies gained 9% after the ride-hailing and delivery platform forecast strong second quarter bookings.