A cargo ship pictured off the coast of Fujairah in the Strait of Hormuz on February 25, 2026 (Giuseppe Cacace/Getty Images)

Oil plunges and stocks jump as Trump and Iranian foreign minister say Strait of Hormuz is open

Citing Israel-Lebanon agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on social media that the strait is “completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.” President Trump confirmed the news shortly thereafter.

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Stocks climbed (SPDR S&P 500 ETF) and crude oil prices plunged Friday as both the US and Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted that the strait is now open for the duration of the ceasefire, as a result of the deal between Israel and Lebanon to halt hostilities.

In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 17, 2026

Shortly after Araghchi’s statement, President Trump posted on Truth Social that “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!”

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, tumbled on the announcement.

Reuters reported, citing a senior Iranian official, that navigation through the strait would happen in coordination with Iran and its Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Fuel-sensitive sectors of the stock market, like airlines and cruise companies, are up big. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines all jumped, as did cruise lines Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean.

Going the other way were chemical and energy shares, which had soared along with prices of goods whose supply was constrained by the closure of the choke point to the Persian Gulf.

Chemical stocks — Dow, Inc., CF Industries, and LyondellBasell among them — tumbled, as did natural gas drillers APA Corporation, EOG Resources, Devon Energy, and Coterra Energy.

While the announcement about the strait didn’t signal that hostilities with Iran have conclusively ended, a broad swath of investors and traders rushed to buy.

They included fundamentally minded investors who saw lower US gasoline prices in the future, as well as retail traders eager to ride the growing wave of good vibes that’s washed over the market recently, carrying the S&P 500 to new record highs.

Goldman Sachs’ meme stock basket jumped more than 3% in early trading, with constituents like Hims & Hers, Strategy, and SoundHound AI rallying.

A separate Goldman basket of companies tied to spending by middle-income consumers was up even more, with large gains for companies like Boot Barn, Yeti, and restaurant chain Brinker International as the market seemed to price in a decline in gasoline prices, which act as a tax on consumers.

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Stocks wavered before closing in the green as traders monitored the timeline for ending the US-Iran war.

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