US stocks near record high, oil falls as Trump claims Iran talks underway

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkForbes signage is displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, the US, on August 3, 2026 [Jeenah Moon/Reuters]By John PowerPublished On 4 Aug 20264 Aug 2026The US stock market has surged to the cusp of its all-time high amid conflicting signals about the status of negotiations on ending the war on Iran.The S&P500 climbed 1.5 percent on Monday, leaving the benchmark index just shy of its closing record of 7,620.90 set on June 2.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Petrol prices strain US households as oil giants Chevron, Exxon profits soarlist 2 of 4Death toll from Venezuela earthquakes passes 6,000list 3 of 4Two workers who died in quake-hit Japan mall were sent in to get cashlist 4 of 4Trump administration sued by 25 states over new tariffs on trading partnersend of listThe tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.1 percent, closing 4.3 percent below its all-time peak of 27,093.90, also set on June 2.The narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks 30 blue-chip companies, rose 1.3 percent to hit a record high of 53,178.41.“Magnificat Seven” tech giants were at the forefront of the rally, with all apart from Apple making substantial gains.Facebook parent company Meta Platforms rose 6 percent, while Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet climbed between 4.4 percent and 4.9 percent.Chip giant Nvidia rose 2.9 percent, while EV maker Tesla jumped 3.5 percent.The broad-based rally continued in after-hours trading, with futures tied to the S&P500 rising more than 0.2 percent.“I am extremely surprised by the magnitude of the rally,” Melissa Brown, managing director of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, told Al Jazeera.“It comes against the backdrop of relatively negative sentiment, and without a real fundamental reason to support it.”Brent crude, the primary international benchmark for oil prices, fell about 5 percent on Monday, before climbing as markets opened in Asia on Tuesday.Brent futures for September delivery stood at around $84.50 per barrel as of 02:00GMT, up 0.9 percent from Monday’s close.Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday after seeing gains in early morning trading.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were both down 0.8 percent as of 02:00GMT.South Korea’s KOSPI, which has been on a roller coaster in 2026 amid furious demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence, fell 1.2 percent.The latest market moves came as Washington and Tehran offered conflicting accounts of the communications taking place between the sides.US President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were underway and that he wanted to give Tehran “every last chance” to sign a deal before facing renewed strikes.Trump’s comments came a day after he announced that he had called off plans to launch the “biggest attack since World War II” following discussions with Gulf leaders.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei ⁠earlier on Monday told a news conference that Tehran was not engaged in talks with Washington and that it had no meetings with US officials planned.Baghaei ⁠said Iranian officials were currently engaged in negotiations with Oman on allowing ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz and that issues between the US and Iran would need to be addressed in the “next stages.”