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US equity markets rallied, with unconfirmed reports that Iran has privately reached out to the US to discuss terms for ending their escalating conflict. However, Iran later denied a New York Times article that suggested operatives from its Ministry of Intelligence had reached out indirectly to the Central Intelligence Agence (CIA) with an offer to discuss terms for ending the conflict. According to Bloomberg, Iran's Tasnim News Agency cited a ministry source as saying that the New York Times report was "pure falsehood and psychological warfare" - Dow rose +238-points or +0.49%, snapping a three-session losing streak.  Amazon.com Inc gained +3.88% to be the leading performer in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp rose +1.66%.

US equity markets settled mostly weaker on Friday (April) as investors eyed diplomatic talks over the weekend that were the highest level negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and that sought to build on the two-week ceasefire negotiated last week – Dow lost -269-points or -0.56%. Nike Inc fell -3.14% and hit a 12-year low. The company announced chief innovation officer, Tony Bignell, was departing the company “to pursue his creative and philanthropic passions” less than a year after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elliot Hill installed him in the role.

The S&P500 and Nasdaq booked a seventh consecutive session of gains, reversing opening declines after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has given an instruction for Israel to begin talks with Lebanon that would also include the disarming of Hezbollah, which is also linked to Iran – Dow rose +276-points or +0.58% to 48,185.80, moving back into positive territory for the calendar year (up ~0.25%) and climbing above its 50-day moving average (48,021.73) for the first time since 26 February. 

US equity markets logged modest gains, climbing in the final hour of trading amid hopes that a proposal brokered by Pakistan may result in an eleventh-hour deal between the U.S. and Iran– Dow slipped -85-points or -0.18%, with Nike Inc (down -3% and trading at lows not seen since October 2014)

US equity markets opened the new week on the back foot following five consecutive weekly declines - Dow edged +50-points or +0.11% higher, with Salesforce Inc (up +3.19%) the leading component in the 30-stock index. However, Caterpillar Inc dropped -4.02% and Cisco Systems Inc -3.6%.President Trump said overnight on the Truth Social platform that the U.S. is “in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.” That said, if the Strait of Hormuz is not “immediately” reopened and a peace deal is not reached “shortly,” the president threatened to “completely” obliterate the Middle Eastern country’s energy infrastructure, including its oil wells as well as Kharg Island. President Trump had told the Financial Times earlier that he could “take the oil in Iran,” and seize the country’s export hub of Kharg Island. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” he said. Asked about the state of Iranian defence on Kharg Island he said: "I don't think they have any defence. We could take it very easily."

US equity markets fell sharply for a second consecutive session on Friday (27 March) as oil prices continued to soar and act as the dominant driver of investor sentiment as the war in the Middle East entered its fifth week with no sign of a resolution - Dow dropped -793-points or -1.73% to 45,166.64, joining the Nasdaq in official correction territory after settling a touch over >10% below its 10 February record closing high (50,188.14).  Amazon.com Inc (down -3.95%), JPMorgan Chase & Co (-3.02%), Salesforce Inc (-3.41%), UnitedHealth Group Inc (-3.37%) and Visa Inc (-3.28%) all falling over >3%. Nvidia Corp fell -2.17% after being the worst performer in the 30-stock index a day earlier.

US equity markets fell sharply as investors digested the latest wholesale inflation figures, and the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy pronouncements and economic projections - Dow shed -768-points or -1.63% with Home Depot Inc (-3.08%), McDonald’s Corp (-3.24%), Procter & Gamble Co (-3.15%) and Visa Inc (-3.06%) all dropping over >3%. A further 10 Dow components fell over >2%. Only two (2) components in the 30-stock index – Chevron Corp (up +0.32%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (+0.3%) – settled in positive territory.

US equity markets rallied as oil prices retreated amid fresh efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz - Dow rose +392-points or +0.83%,,with Salesforce Inc (up +2.86%) the leading component in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp’s (+1.65%) four-day GPU Technology Conference kicked off overnight with a keynote speech from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang, who said the semiconductor chipmaker expects to record $US1 trillion in AI chip sales through 2027. The company previously had said it expected chip sales to reach $US500 million by the end of 2026. President Trump that the White House will soon announce which countries have agreed to participate in a coalition to protect tankers in the Strait. But the president expressed frustration with countries who are not willing to join a coalition. “Some are very enthusiastic, and some are less than enthusiastic,” President Trump told reporters. “And I assume some will not do it. I think we have one or two that will not do it that we’ve been protecting for about 40 years at tens of billions of dollars.” Japan and France have already reportedly dismissed the prospect of sending vessels to help reopen Strait of Hormuz.

US equity markets retreated on Friday (13 March), logging fresh closing lows for the year and booking their third consecutive weekly decline as oil prices continued to climb and investors digested a busy economic calendar - Dow -119points or -0.26%, with Salesforce Inc (down -3.24%) the weakest index component.  Nvidia Corp (down -1.58%) hosts its GPU Technology Conference tonight AEST, where the AI chipmaker is expected to offer more details on its latest products. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang is slated to give a keynote addressThe broader S&P500 fell -0.61%, with Information Technology (down -1.29%) and Materials (-1.04%) declining over >1% to lead seven of the eleven primary sectors lower.

All three (3) major stock indexes erased their earlier gains to finish mostly lower in a volatile session on Tuesday.Dow fell 34.29-points or -0.07%.Notable stock moves included 3M CO (+2.39%), Cisco Systems Inc (+1.96%) and Caterpillar Inc (+1.68%) gaining over >1.5%.

US equity markets rallied, with unconfirmed reports that Iran has privately reached out to the US to discuss terms for ending their escalating conflict. However, Iran later denied a New York Times article that suggested operatives from its Ministry of Intelligence had reached out indirectly to the Central Intelligence Agence (CIA) with an offer to discuss terms for ending the conflict. According to Bloomberg, Iran's Tasnim News Agency cited a ministry source as saying that the New York Times report was "pure falsehood and psychological warfare" - Dow rose +238-points or +0.49%, snapping a three-session losing streak.  Amazon.com Inc gained +3.88% to be the leading performer in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp rose +1.66%.

US equity markets steadied, reversing steep morning session losses - Dow slipped -73-points or -0.15%, paring an earlier decline of as much as 600-points. 3M Co (down -2.33%), Home Depot Inc (-2.6%) and Procter & Gamble Co (-2.21%) all fell over >2%. Nvidia Corp rose +2.99% and was the leading performer in the 30-stock index, arresting a two-day slide that saw the chipmaking giant drop over >9.5% despite. Microsoft Corp rose +1.48%. Apple Inc (+0.20%) kicked off a three-day stretch of new product announcements overnight unveiling its new iPhone 17e and a new iPad Air, refreshing its entry-level hardware offerings with updated chips to prepare for the rollout of new artificial-intelligence (AI) features later this year.

US equity markets retreated and booked their steepest monthly declines in a year, with financial and Information technology stocks under pressure and with investors eyeing US-Iran hostilities that are poised to drive crude prices sharply higher  - Dow lost 521-points or -1.05%.  American Express Co (down -7.88%) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-7.47%) both dropped over >7%.  Apple Inc fell -3.21% ahead of the company kicking off its first product launches of the year this week, culminating in a “special Apple experience" event on Wednesday night AEST (4 March). Microsoft Corp -2.24%The U.S. and Israel launched a joint military strike on Iran on Saturday (28 February) called “Operation Epic Fury”, while U.S. President Trump called on Iranians to overthrow their government. President Trump said “we have hit hundreds of targets” in a new video statement on the strikes on Iran, adding that that US Strikes had eliminated Iranian Revolutionary Guard facilities, air defences, and naval assets, echoing his earlier comments. “Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei is dead. This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds, even thousands of Americans on his hands,” President Trump said in the video that was posted to Truth Social. “The entire military command is gone.”

US equity markets weaker as a strong results from Nvidia Corp and Salesforce after the close of the previous session weren’t enough to bolster the broader market  - Dow inched +17-points or +0.03% higher Salesforce Inc - which has been one of the biggest victims of recent artificial intelligence (AI) disruption fears - gained +4.03% to pace gains in the 30-stock index a day after the customer service software maker reported healthy results for the fourth quarter, although its fiscal 2027 revenue forecast trailed Wall Street projections. However, Nvidia Corp shed -5.46% to book its largest single session decline since April last year despite reporting stronger-than-expected profit and revenue forecasts for the fourth quarter after the close of the previous session.

Technology stocks led US equity markets higher overnight ahead of Nvidia Corp’s much anticipated quarterly result after the closing bell - Dow rose +308-points or +0.63% International Business Machines (IBM) Corp (up +3.58%) and UnitedHealth Group Inc (+3.74%) rallied over >3.5%. The broader S&P500 gained +0.81%. Information Technology (up +1.79%) and Financials (+1.68%) gained over >1.5% to lead just five of the eleven primary sectors higher. Industrials (down -0.79%) and Real Estate (-0.69%) sat at the foot of the primary sector leaderboard. Axon Enterprise Inc jumped +17.55% after the technology company in global public safety posted a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter result after the closing bell of the previous session.