TORONTO - Canada's main stock index rallied and U.S. markets moved further into record territory, as oil plunged after Iran's foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open.
鈥淲ithout that opening, there were concerns about inflation, there were concerns about growth, there were concerns about the price of oil, but those have overseeded, at least for now with the opening of the strait and the ability to move commercial shipping through the strait,鈥 said Anish Chopra, managing director with Portfolio Management Corp. 聽聽聽聽
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 294.06 points at 34,346.29.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 868.71 points at 49,447.43. The S&P 500 index was up 84.78 points at 7,126.06, while the Nasdaq composite was up 365.78 points at 24,468.48. 聽
The S&P 500 leaped 1.2 per cent to an all-time high and closed out a third straight week of big gains, its longest streak since Halloween.聽
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude plunged immediately after Iran鈥檚 foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that passage for all commercial vessels through the strait 鈥渋s declared completely open鈥 as a ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire.
Minutes after the Iranian foreign minister鈥檚 announcement of the reopening, Trump said on his social media network that the U.S. Navy鈥檚 blockade of Iranian ports remains 鈥渋n full force鈥 until both sides reach a deal on the war. He, though, also suggested that 鈥渟hould go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated鈥 and emphasized it by using all capital letters.
The June crude oil contract was down US$8.58 at US$82.59 per barrel. 聽
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 9.1 per cent to settle at US$90.38 per barrel. It remains above its US$70 price from before the war.聽
鈥淓ven if this is completely over, the strait's completely open, there's still a lot of logistical toing and froing that has to happen to get the right boats in place and restart the production, which has been down for a month,鈥 said Ryan Bushell, CEO and portfolio manager at Newhaven Asset Management.
Bushell said he wasn鈥檛 surprised to see the knee-jerk reaction from the market following the developments in the Middle East, but that he will be watching where the price of oil goes from here. 聽聽聽聽
鈥淭he physical market is tighter than the financial market is giving it credit for, but we'll just have to see how that plays out as we head into the highest demand portion of the year, which is the summer driving season in the Northern Hemisphere,鈥 Bushell said.
With oil prices still higher than their prewar levels, Chopra said the market is still seeing some level of risk that the ceasefire may not hold.
Gains on the TSX were led by the consumer cyclicals and basic materials sectors, while the energy sector finished in negative territory.聽
鈥淭he ceasefire, the impact on the price of oil is just giving legs to certain sectors like consumer cyclicals and the broader market,鈥 Chopra said.聽
The June gold contract was up US$71.30 at US$4,879.60 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.15 cents US compared with 72.94 cents US on Thursday.
This report by 国产诱惑福利 was first published April 17, 2026.
