Wall Street's main indexes closed higher on Wednesday as oil prices fell while Iran reviewed a US proposal to end the war in the Middle East, feeding investor hopes for de-escalation in the fourth week of a war that has disrupted global energy flows and stoked inflation concerns.

While Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, said that authorities were reviewing the US proposals, he added that Tehran has no intention to hold talks with Washington.

Initially, Iran said it considered US proposals delivered by Pakistan as excessive and demanded sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The mixed messages led to choppy trading.

Michael James, equity sales trader at Rosenblatt Securities, said: “There are a lot of frayed nerves out there with sentiment and headlines driving a lot of the market action.”

Any signs of communication between the countries provided some hope for investors, however, following signals that Washington has been seeking a ceasefire and restoration of shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which about 20 percent of global oil shipments pass through.

"There is optimism that the proposal and counter-proposal are setting the stage for more negotiations," said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management.

But until there is clarity on when the war might end, Goldman said he expects "volatility to remain elevated given the impact of higher oil prices on inflation."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305 points, or 0.7 percent, to 46,429, the S&P 500 gained 35 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,591 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 167 points, or 0.8 percent, to 21,929.

During Wednesday's session, energy was the weakest of the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, falling 0.5 percent. The strongest sector gainers were materials, up 2 percent, and consumer discretionary, which added 1.2 percent.

With oil prices settling down more than 2 percent, shares in companies that depend heavily on fuel were rallying. Cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line closed up 2.8 percent while the S&P Composite 1500 Passenger Airlines index rose 1 percent.

Destiny Tech100 surged 15 percent after a report that SpaceX aims to file its IPO prospectus as soon as this week. SpaceX is the fund's largest equity holding. Other space companies rallied in response with Rocket Lab adding 10.3 percent while Intuitive Machines rose 14.7 percent and EchoStar added 7.4 percent.

Among other movers, US-listed shares of JD.com rose 8 percent and Alibaba rose 3.5 percent after Chinese state media and the regulator urged the food-delivery platform industry to end a price war. (Reuters)



Edited by Cecil Wong