Oil soars, stocks pare losses on Hormuz hopes

Melisa R. H. Posted On April 2, 2026

Stocks plunged in early Thursday trading in reaction to Trump’s contradictory, rambling speech the night before where he both promised a swift end to the war, yet planned to aggressively bomb Iran further while boasting that Americans were prepared for the spike in oil prices. New York and Toronto opened deeply in the red, but gained altitude as the session wore on. In the afternoon, the Iranian government stated it was drafting a protocol to manage oil tanker traffic in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which lifted markets into the green: the S&P 0.11%, the Nasdaq 0.18%, the TSX 0.5%, though the Dow was down 0.13%. Meanwhile, WTI crude soared over 11% to US$111.45, while gold slid 1.8% to US$4,675 and silver sank 3.2% to US$72.60.

Major movers were mixed for the day: Intel up 4.89%, Netflix 3.28% and AMD 3.47%, but Tesla sank 5.42% and GE declined 3.94%. In Toronto: CNQ 2.34%, MDA Space 5.11%, Transcontinental 8.64%, Rogers -7.95% and Goeasy -6.66%. Bitcoin slipped 1.9% to US$66,885 while the U.S. 10-year yield held at 4.31%. Markets will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday.