Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, with strong gains in Alphabet and other heavyweights, after US President Donald Trump suggested an end to the Middle East conflict could be close.

The US will be "out of Iran pretty quickly" and could return for "spot hits" if needed, Trump told Reuters, hours before he was scheduled to address the nation about the war.

"We have Trump's comments, which tend to change a bit," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

"Everybody's trying to guess as to what he really means by what he's saying. The markets want it to be positive, they want the war to be over."

Technology-related heavyweights rallied, with Alphabet rising 3.4 percent, and Meta Platforms and Amazon each up over 1 percent.

Wall Street has rallied for two straight days as investors speculated that the US and Israeli war on Iran will end soon.

Energy prices have spiked in the latest month, sparking fears of global inflation, as the conflict choked the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

SpaceX confidentially filed for an initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, sending space stocks higher.

Intuitive Machines gained 9 percent, Planet Labs rose 10 percent and Rocket Lab added 2 percent. The Destiny Tech100 investment fund, which owns SpaceX shares, jumped by 9.1 percent.

Eli Lilly rose 3.8 percent after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the drugmaker's weight loss pill, to be sold under the brand name Foundayo.

Intel surged 8.8 percent after it said it would buy back Apollo's stake in its Ireland factory for US$14.2 billion.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7 percent to end the session at 6,575 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.2 percent to 21,840, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent to 46,565.

The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, slipped to its lowest in more than a week.

Oil prices fell sharply, and the S&P 500 energy index slid 3.9 percent to its lowest in over a week. Airlines jumped, with the S&P Composite Passenger Airlines sub-index up 2.3 percent.

Nike slumped 15.5 percent to its lowest in a decade after the sportswear giant forecast a surprise drop in its fourth-quarter sales.

ADP's national employment report showed private payrolls increased steadily in March, while retail sales increased by the most in seven months in February.

US manufacturing activity picked up last month, according to the Institute for Supply Management's gauge. Nonfarm payroll figures for March will be in focus on Friday, although US markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday. (Reuters)



Edited by Cecil Wong