(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes rose while government bond yields edged lower and crude oil climbed amid concern that hostilities between Washington and Tehran are taking a turn for the worse.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% to 26,188.5, the S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to 7,664.6, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.5% to 53,015.1.
All sectors, except industrials and real estate, rose. Materials and communication services topped the gainers.
The additional strikes Tuesday on Iran led to Tehran attacking Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait even though US President Donald Trump had warned that Iran would be "hit much harder" if it retaliated to the first strikes in over a month. "They will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!" Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday.
The Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps said two oil tankers exploded after hitting a mine and are now on fire, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported Wednesday.
The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract rose 0.5% to $90.70 per barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent climbed 0.7% to $95.29 per barrel. Both crude types were down by more than 0.5% earlier in the session.
Most US Treasury yields slipped, albeit moderately. The 10-year yield was unchanged at 4.8%. The two-year yield slipped less than one basis point to 4.39%.
Meanwhile, ADP's monthly measure of private payrolls showed a 38,000 increase in August, below a 47,000 gain expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey, following a 46,000 increase in July. Service-providing jobs climbed 48,000, with education and health services jobs up 45,000, while manufacturing sector jobs contracted 17,000.