-- US equity indexes traded mixed midday Thursday as investors weighed a surge in planned April layoffs to the third-highest since 2009, ahead of Iran's response to a Washington proposal to restart peace talks.
The Nasdaq traded 0.6% higher at 25,981.1 after touching a record 26,036.38 intraday. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% to 7,374.7 after hitting an all-time high of 7,385.02 earlier in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, fell 0.2% to 49,830.5, after briefly trading above the 50,000 mark. Its all-time high is 50,512.79.
The US and Iran are edging toward a temporary pact to halt the war, sources and officials told Reuters on Thursday, with Tehran reviewing a proposal to stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved.
The two countries are working with mediators to formulate a one-page framework to restart talks aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz, with negotiations possibly starting in Pakistan next week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures dropped 3.2% to $92.06, and Brent crude futures slumped 3% to $98.20, extending declines on expectations of a reopening of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of global crude oil flows.
In economic news, employers in the US announced 83,387 job cuts in April, up 38% from March, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. The two previous highs were 105,441 job cuts recorded in April 2025 and 671,129 in April 2020, the global outplacement firm added.