On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about three percent to 47,916 points, while the S&P 500 jumped 3.6 percent to 6,816 points, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 4.7 percent to 22,902 points.
These indices rose the most on Wednesday, as investors were encouraged by the US-Iran ceasefire agreement reached on Tuesday evening, just hours before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump, Hina reports.
Thanks to this, Iran avoided the fierce attacks that Trump had threatened, and in return promised to allow safe passage of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for oil exports from the Middle East, during the ceasefire.
That caused a sharp, double-digit drop in oil prices on Wednesday, with them falling below the $100 per barrel level.
In recent weeks, rising oil prices have negatively affected global stock markets, as investors feared that this would cause inflation to rise, which would lead to central bank interest rate increases and a slowdown in economic growth.
However, in the second half of the week, the euphoria on the stock markets subsided because the Strait of Hormuz is still not fully open to the passage of tankers, except for exceptions approved by Iran, and because the details of the ceasefire agreement were interpreted differently.
The crisis in the Middle East has taken a back seat to economic indicators. New reports showed that the US economy grew more slowly than expected in the final quarter of last year, while inflation rose to 3.3 percent annually in March, largely due to a nearly 11 percent jump in energy prices.
As no agreement was reached between American and Iranian negotiators on the conditions for lasting peace in Islamabad on Saturday, it remains to be seen what will happen next week on global stock markets and oil markets.
European stock markets also saw stock prices rise. London's FTSE 100 rose 1.6 percent to 10,600 points, while Frankfurt's DAX jumped 2.7 percent to 23,803 points and Paris' CAC 40 rose 3.7 percent to 8,259 points.
