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Oil prices fall as US officials tout progress in talks to reopen critical waterway.

The US stock market has hit an all-time high amid growing hopes for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a flurry of bumper corporate earnings results.

The S&P 500, the most popular gauge of US stocks, surged 1.8 percent on Tuesday to top 7,700 for the first time, blasting past its previous record of 7,620.90 set on June 2.

Wall Street’s benchmark index has risen 12.80 percent so far this year, comfortably beating its historical average of about 10.5 percent.

Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company closely tied to the US and Israeli defence sectors, was among the biggest gainers, with its shares soaring 29.5 percent on the back of forecasting-busting second-quarter revenue of $1.94 bn.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks 30 blue-chip companies, set a new record for a second straight day, climbing 1.7 percent to 54,085.88.

The rally continued in Asia on Wednesday morning, with key indexes in Japan and South Korea making major gains.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 3 percent as of 01:00 GMT, while the Kospi in Seoul was up 4.6 percent.

Brent crude, the primary international benchmark for oil prices, edged lower after falling about 5 percent overnight on hopes for an end to the months-long disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for about one-fifth of global oil supplies before the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February.

Brent futures for October delivery stood at $79.11 per barrel as of 01:00 GMT, down about 13 percent from the previous week.

The growing market optimism came as both US and Iranian officials touted progress in talks between Iran and Oman aimed at restoring shipping in the strait.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that while an agreement had yet to be reached, he hoped that a deal would “happen very ‌shortly”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that an agreement on the strait could be reached as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said talks with Omani officials on designating safe routes for vessels have been “positive”.

Maritime traffic in the Gulf has been severely constrained since the start of the war amid the threat of Iranian attacks on vessels in and around the strait, as well as a US blockade of Iranian ports.

Just nine vessels transited the critical waterway on Sunday, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, compared with roughly 130 daily crossings before the start of the war.

The US military said on Tuesday that the strait was “free and open” to all commercial vessels despite Tehran’s repeated insistence that it has the right to control the movement of traffic in the waterway.

“Over the past three months, US forces have assisted more than 1,000 vessels in successfully transiting the strait despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, and these transits continue today,” US Central Command said in a post on social media.

Amazon (AMZN) shares rallied in Thursday’s extended trading after reporting stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, driven by the strength of its cloud business, putting the spotlight on ETFs with significant exposure to the stock.

The e-commerce giant reported second-quarter North America revenue

As Wrexham unveiled their new 2026-27 home shirt while ringing the Nasdaq bell in New York’s iconic Times Square, there was little doubt that the club’s stock has never been higher.

Icons from the past such as Mickey Thomas, Steven Fletcher, Ben Tozer and Ben Foster were among those in The Big Apple proudly adorning the club’s red jersey.

It formed part of the launch of their new home kit, complete with their newest sponsor – yet another global brand.

Which is all in keeping with their cross-Atlantic profile, one unlike any other in the Championship or even many in the Premier League.

“Each time Wrexham has come to the U.S., we’ve been blown away by the reception,” co-owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds told Sports Illustrated, external.

“The support has continued to grow, and it felt important to come back and connect with those fans in person.”

The Red Dragons are more than halfway through their pre-season tour of the United States, the third time in four summers they have travelled across the Atlantic.

It is a far cry from the summer of 2021 – Phil Parkinson’s first pre-season in north Wales – when Wrexham faced the likes of Burnley’s Under-23s, Tamworth, a Fleetwood Town XI, Spennymoor Town and Curzon Ashton.

July 22 (UPI) — The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass a bill that adds new limits on congressional stock trading, though it does not quite enact a complete ban.

House Republicans also attached a section requiring people to provide photo identification in order to vote, a provision from the controversial SAVE America Act, The Hill reported.

Lawmakers voted 232-198 to pass the bill, which would still need to pass the Senate. Thirteen Democrats joined Republicans in voting for it.

The bill would restrict active members of Congress, their spouses and any dependent children from buying new stocks of any publicly traded company. It would allow them to keep stocks they already own. Lawmakers would also have to file a public notice with the House clerk at least seven days before they sell a stock.

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., chairman of the House Administration Committee, led the bill and said it is “critical to restoring public trust in this institution.”

“I believe it is time we just stop allowing members to buy new stock,” he said. “Doing so removes the appearance of impropriety altogether.”

Many Democrats said the bill doesn’t go far enough — it doesn’t apply to the executive branch — and opposed the addition of changes to voting measures.

“House Republicans are pushing (a) voter suppression bill that will upend mail-in voting and throw the elections into chaos, and are trying to trick members into supporting it by linking it to a partial stock trading ban that falls short of the full congressional stock trading ban the American people want,” Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., told CNN.

Magaziner previously co-led a stalled bipartisan bill to ban stock trading.

If lawmakers violate the new rules, they would have to pay a fee of $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, and forfeit any profit.

Netflix stock plunged 9% on Friday morning to $67.74 a share, after the streamer’s second quarter earnings report renewed concerns among investors and analysts about the streamer’s future growth.

The Los Gatos-based company on Thursday narrowed its 2026 forecast to $51 billion to $51.4 billion from $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion, causing equity analysts to cut their estimates. The stock reached a new 52-week low on Friday and is down 49% from a year ago.

“This outlook likely reinforces investor concerns,” wrote analysts from Guggenheim Securities in a research note on Friday, which has a “buy” rating on the stock.

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its declining stock price.

Investors have been skittish about the amount of time people spend on the streaming platform. Netflix’s share of TV viewing time in the U.S. has steadily declined in recent months as YouTube has gained market share, according to Nielsen data.

Investors are concerned that if people spend less time watching Netflix, it could cause people to cancel their subscriptions and make it more challenging for Netflix to raise prices in markets like the U.S.

Netflix said engagement is healthy on its platform and its programs continue to draw large audiences with popular shows like crime drama series “I Will Find You.”

Netflix said subscribers watched more than 97 billion hours on the streaming service in the first half of the year, up 2% from a year ago.

“We are increasingly concerned that younger generations are less interested in long form content as their time migrates to ‘free’ social media platforms,” wrote Jeffrey Wlodarczak, CEO of Pivotal Research Group in a report on Friday, who has a hold recommendation on Netflix stock. “We believe this will result in slower subscriber growth and attempts by the company to offset this via more aggressive price increases and investment in content.”

Netflix executives in a Thursday earnings presentation emphasized that measuring engagement at the company goes beyond hours spent watching the streaming service.

“There is not a linear relationship between view hours and revenue and profit because all hours are not created equal,” said Greg Peters, Netflix co-CEO on an earnings presentation on Thursday. “All hours don’t provide the same kind of value to the business.”

The streamer said it plans to allocate just over 5% of its content spend on live programming this year. Live content has been a key driver for subscriptions, accounting for six of the top 10 new member sign-up days over the last five years, the company said, even though it makes up roughly 1% of overall watch time this year.

The company is also diversifying the content it offers on its platform, adding live sports games and video podcasts, in addition its large library of TV shows and movies.

Netflix revenue rose 13% to $12.6 billion in the second quarter. Net income was $3.4 billion, up 9% from a year ago.

The company said its advertising business is on track to reach $3 billion in revenue this year, double the amount in 2025.

Shares fell on Wednesday in Europe and Asia, and oil prices surged nearly 6% after US President Donald Trump said the tentative ceasefire with Iran was over, raising the prospect of renewed military conflict between the two countries.

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Asked whether the memorandum of understanding with Iran was over, Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara: “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” according to Reuters.

This came after US Central Command said its forces struck more than 80 targets in Iran overnight, including command-and-control networks, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile capabilities and vessels operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Washington also revoked a waiver that had allowed Iran to restart oil exports.

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped more than 6% by 10:45 CEST to $78.79 a barrel, while US benchmark crude rose 6.3% to $74.88 a barrel. Both had declined recently to around the levels seen before the war with Iran began in late February.

The latest flare-up, despite commitments to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict, has added to uncertainty over oil prices after they fell from their peak well above $100 during the war. It also comes amid worries that the craze for artificial intelligence-related shares has pushed prices beyond the productivity gains and profits likely to result from massive investments in computer chip production capacity and data centres.

“As such, geopolitical headlines will likely determine market sentiment over the coming hours. A further deterioration in the situation could weigh further on equity valuations along with rising stress in technology,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary.

Stock markets fall

In share trading, Germany’s DAX shed more than 2.2%, at around 11 CEST, while the FTSE 100 in London lost 1.5%, and France’s CAC 40 fell more than 2%.

US stock futures were down about 1% at the same time.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.1% to 66,819.05, while South Korea’s Kospi shed 5.4% to 7,246.79.

The South Korean index has soared and then fallen back, briefly surpassing the 9,000 level last month before succumbing to heavy selling in AI-related technology shares such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Samsung fell 6.3% early Wednesday after dropping about 7% the day before. SK Hynix reversed early gains to fall 5.7%.

Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.6%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 3% to 24,193.56.

Shares in Chinese AI model start-up Zhipu, also known as Z.ai and traded as Knowledge Atlas Technology, rose nearly 14% on Wednesday.

The Shanghai Composite index declined 0.5% to 3,970.88.

On Tuesday, the roller-coaster ride for AI stocks turned lower again, dragging Wall Street down. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, though the majority of stocks within the index rose.

Losses among AI-related stocks dragged the Nasdaq Composite 1.2% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.

Advanced Micro Devices sank 6.5%, Intel shed 9.7%, and Micron Technology lost 4.7%.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business, fell 6.8% on its first day of trading in the Nasdaq-100 index.

Rivian Automotive dropped 18.1% after the electric vehicle company said it would sell 75 million shares, diluting existing shareholders’ stakes.

In currency trading early Wednesday, the US dollar rose to 162.26 Japanese yen from 162.11 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1426 from $1.1414.

July 6 (UPI) — Stock in Dell Technologies jumped Monday morning after President Donald Trump promoted the company while opening the stock exchange from the Oval Office.

Dell CEO Michael Dell and Susan Dell were in the Oval Office along with investor Brad Gerstner, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as Trump rang the opening bell. The president used the moment to encourage the purchase of Dell computers, preceding a 7% increase in Dell stock.

“Go out and buy a Dell computer,” Trump said. “Michael and Susan Dell, they are truly incredible.

The Dells donated $6 billion to the Trump Accounts program for children. Public financial disclosures show that Trump actively traded Dell stock in 2025, making 24 trades and purchasing stock 16 times.

We’re going to get him that money back one way or the other,” Trump said. “Then I’ll ask for another $6 billion. We’ll start the whole process all over again.”

Monday’s Oval Office event recognized the opening of the Trump Accounts on Saturday. The accounts are available to children 18 or younger and include a $1,000 contribution from the U.S. Treasury Department for babies born from 2025 through 2028.

“The American dream belongs to every child, and today we are equipping the next generation with the right to claim their rightful share of it,” Bessent said.

New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin was also in attendance in the Oval Office.

(Updated to include comments from SA analyst Kenio Fontes.)

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