Wall Street Hits Record Highs as US and Iran Pause Hostilities
US stock markets reached record highs on June 29, 2026, driven by an AI boom and a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record closing high of 52,319.20 as US stock markets rallied on June 29, 2026. The surge was driven by a rebound in technology and artificial intelligence stocks, including a 4.8 percent spike for Alphabet Inc. following its inclusion in the Dow. Market sentiment improved significantly after the United States and Iran agreed to a fragile ceasefire and a pause in hostilities following a weekend of retaliatory airstrikes in the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump announced that Iran requested a meeting to stabilize the accord, with technical teams scheduled to meet in Doha, Qatar. This diplomatic progress helped snap a five-session decline for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, despite earlier administration predictions that military action would cause markets to plunge and oil to surge. While Brent crude rose briefly to $73.91 following the strikes, oil prices ultimately saw their largest quarterly drop since 2020, falling nearly 40 percent as the Strait of Hormuz gradually reopened.
Broader financial trends remained volatile. The Japanese yen hit a 40-year low despite a 11.7 trillion yen intervention by Tokyo. Meanwhile, investors shifted focus to the European Central Bank's annual meeting in Sintra, Portugal, where new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is expected to signal potential interest rate hikes by year-end to combat persistent inflation. Other corporate milestones included a $518 billion chipmaking investment by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and the addition of SpaceX to the Nasdaq 100 index.
