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US Equity Markets End Higher Amid Broad Rally, US-Iran Diplomatic Progress

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US equity indexes closed higher Friday amid a broad-based rally after the US and Iran displayed progress in resolving the conflict diplomatically.

* Talks between the US and Iran over a permanent peace deal are continuing, Bloomberg reported, citing an American official. The US is still committed to finding a diplomatic solution with Iran, the official told Bloomberg on Thursday.

* Meanwhile, President Trump said Tehran and the US agreed to continue talks, but he communicated to Iran that the ceasefire is "over," Al Jazeera reported, citing a social media post from the president.

* August West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell $0.46 to settle at $71.62 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $0.22 at $76.08.

* Meta Platforms (META) shares were up about 5.8%, the top gainer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after a Bloomberg report, citing CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said the company is considering renting out some of its artificial intelligence compute as demand for AI infrastructure surges.

* Netflix (NFLX) is in early talks to buy film-focused social platform Letterboxd, which has been exploring a sale, Variety reported Friday, citing an earlier Puck report. Shares were down about 2.9%, among the worst performers on the S&P 500.

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US Equity Markets End Higher Amid Gains in Technology Stocks, US Attacks on Iran

US equity indexes closed higher Thursday after technology stocks saw big gains and the US continued to attack targets in Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.* US Central Command overnight hit 90 Iranian military targets, according to its social media post on X, after striking 80 on the previous night following Iran's attacks on three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz* US initial jobless claims fell sequentially to 215,000 in the week ended July 4 from an upwardly revised 217,000, compared with expectations for 217,000 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The four-week moving average declined by 3,750 to 218,750.* August West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell $1.65 to settle at $71.87 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $1.93 at $76.09.* Sandisk (SNDK) shares were up 7.6%, among the top gainers on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, after Wedbush raised its price target for the company's shares to $2,000 from $1,200 while keeping its outperform rating.* Paramount's (PSKY) $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) could face lawsuits from US states to block the deal as soon as next week, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Shares of Paramount dropped about 4.3%, the second-worst performer on the S&P 500.

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Update: US Equity Indexes Jump, Crude Oil Slides as Washington Strikes Iran to Keep Hormuz Out of Tehran's Control

(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)US equity indexes rose as technology topped sector charts and crude oil slumped following Washington's continuing strikes to degrade Iran's capability to attack commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% to 26,199.2, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 7,539.9, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average marched 0.2% higher to 52,442.4 ahead of Thursday's close. Technology and consumer discretionary led the gainers, while consumer staples and energy paced the decliners.US Central Command overnight hit 90 Iranian military targets, according to its social media post on X, after striking 80 on the previous night following Iran's attacks on three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of global crude oil flows. On Wednesday, before the second round of strikes on Iran, US Vice President JD Vance said: "If Iran tries to close the strait down, there's going to be a response [from] the American military. That's the deal."Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, spoke with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Oman, as well as Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Associated Press reported Thursday, citing Araghchi's Telegram channel. The minister repeated Iran's assertion that the US has violated the interim peace deal, while the US said that Iran broke the deal by firing on commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to the report."The question confronting traders is whether Iran is willing to return to large-scale kinetic war with the US and its allies if necessary to strengthen its claim of control over the Strait of Hormuz, something that it has apparently not been granted by way of any diplomatic negotiations so far," Thierry Wizman, global foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie, said in a note Thursday.The front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent dropped 2.9% to $75.78 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate declined 2.8% to $71.50 a barrel in the final leg of trading.

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Update: US Equity Indexes Rise as Washington Escalates Attacks to Prevent Iran From Gaining Control of Hormuz

(Updates with index/price moves and geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)US equity indexes rose amid gains in technology and as crude oil declined following Washington's attempt to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning freely by degrading Tehran's firepower to attack commercial ships in the critical waterway.The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5% to 25,994.3, the S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to 7,516.34, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average marched 0.6% higher to 52,470.2 after midday Thursday. Technology and financials led the gainers, while a trio of decliners included energy.US Central Command overnight hit 90 Iranian military targets, according to its social media post on X, after striking 80 on the previous night following Iran's attacks on three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of global crude oil flows.Iran said it had attacked US military sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar in response to the new US strikes on infrastructure, according to reports from Reuters and Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster. Iran fired 10 ballistic missiles at Jordan's Azraq military base, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC launched the missile strike targeting the "US command-and-control center," Al Jazeera cited an IRGC statement carried by Iran's semi-official news agency, Fars."The question confronting traders is whether Iran is willing to return to large-scale kinetic war with the US and its allies if necessary to strengthen its claim of control over the Strait of Hormuz, something that it has apparently not been granted by way of any diplomatic negotiations so far," Thierry Wizman, global foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie, said in a note.The front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent fell 0.7% to $77.42 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate declined 1% to $72.77 a barrel.

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