On Thursday, Iran said the latest U.S.-proposed package has gone some way to narrowing the differences between the warring parties. However, a dispute over the toll system in the Strait of Hormuz hampered prospects for a breakthrough in the situation.
The U.S. dollar index rallied and retreated, giving back almost all of its intraday gains to end up 0.02% higher at 99.20 points; the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. bond closed at 4.577%, while the yield on the 2-year U.S. bond, which is sensitive to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate, closed at 4.092%.
A weaker U.S. dollar and lower U.S. bond yields supported gold prices, with spot gold recovering after falling 1% in early trading, eventually closing 0.01% lower at $4543.29 per ounce; spot silver eventually closed 1.1% higher at $76.69 per ounce.
International oil prices fell as investors were optimistic about possible progress in the Middle East war peace talks. wti crude ended down 1.11% at $101.99/barrel; brent crude ended down 0.57% at $104.89/barrel.
U.S. stocks closed up 0.55% on the Dow, 0.17% on the S&P 500 and 0.09% on the Nasdaq Composite. NVIDIA (NVDA.O) fell 1.8%, IBM (IBM.N) rose 12%, Arm (ARM.O) gained 16% and SanDisk (SNDK.O) rose 10%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed down 1.5%, with Beili (BILI.O) down 3.9% and Xiaopeng Auto (XPEV.N) up 3%.