US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq hit intraday records as Mideast hopes lift sentiment

The Travelers Companies

16/04/2026 17:15

Indexes up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 500 0.27%, Nasdaq  0.38%

Myseum soars after rebrand to focus on AI

Trump says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to 10-day ceasefire

Updates with late morning trading

By Niket Nishant and Avinash  P

April 16 (Reuters) -
The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq touched intraday record highs on Thursday as optimism surrounding a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon buoyed sentiment, reassuring investors that the worst of the Middle East conflict
had passed
.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, potentially removing a key obstacle to a broader peace agreement in the region.

"Seasoned investors understand that markets as a whole do not wait for certainty. The market is walking away from worst-case scenarios and rightfully so," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

At 11:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 30.41 points, or 0.06%, to 48,494.13, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 19.26 points, or 0.27%, to 7,041.34 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 90.38 points, or 0.38%, to 24,106.40.

"When momentum rules, fundamentals are optional. Investors have decided that the worst of the conflict is behind us, if not completely solved," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.

        While hopes of diplomatic progress have lifted sentiment this week, some say more concrete evidence of peace may be needed to sustain the momentum.

Despite the gains, the fragility of the rally was evident earlier on Thursday, when the indexes briefly slipped into negative territory, underscoring a market caught between optimism over the ceasefire and caution that prices may have risen too far.

"It is difficult to discern why investors are so optimistic," said Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp.

"The economic data does not really justify the high degree of enthusiasm."

RESULTS STEER SENTIMENT

Market moves could also become more idiosyncratic as the earnings season gathers pace.

U.S. beverages giant PepsiCo PEP.O gained 2% after beating quarterly profit estimates.

Abbott ABT.N declined 4.3%, to its lowest level since November 2023 after cutting its full-year profit forecast, while Charles Schwab SCHW.N and Travelers TRV.N fell 5.3% and nearly 1% respectively after their results.

     Netflix NFLX.O is also due to report after the markets close. Its shares were 0.6% higher.

Software stocks .SPLRCIS and energy shares .SPNY rose 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively.

Other big movers included Myseum MYSE.O, which more than doubled after rebranding as Myseum.AI.

The rally came a day after a similar move by sneaker maker Allbirds BIRD.O and was reminiscent of last year's wave of companies pivoting to crypto treasury strategies, which sparked a buying frenzy in their shares.

Voyager Technologies VOYG.N rose 5.2% after NASA signed an order for the company to conduct the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, the company's first selection for such a mission.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. There were 182 new highs and 29 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 89 new highs and 32 new lows.

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Saqib Ahmed in New York; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))