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Equity Alert: US mkts up as 10-day ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon starts

 

MUMBAI--0745 IST--Major indices on the Wall Street sustained gains, with benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq hitting record closing highs Thursday, amid optimism of a likely truce between the US and Iran. Further, US President Donald Trump late Thursday said in a post on social media platform Truth Social that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, which took effect Thursday, which also buoyed sentiment. Trump also said the next round of peace talks between Israel and Lebanon could take place "probably, maybe, next weekend." Market participants are likely to wait for further clarity on the progress of peace talks in West Asia.

"I just had excellent conversations with the Highly Respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel. These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M EST," Trump said in his Truth Social platform. In another social media post, Trump emphasised the need for Hezbollah to "act nicely". "No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!," Trump said in the post.

 

The NASDAQ Composite gained for the 12th consecutive session, and the S&P 500 for the fourth straight day. Both indices ended the trading session Thursday with modest gains.

 

"11 days, we got to new all-time highs. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think we need to see a little bit more participation under the surface to feel some comfort that there is something lasting here," Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, told CNBC.

 

On the earnings front, food and beverage major Pepsi Co. reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter ended March. The company's revenue climbed 8.5% on year to $19.44 billion, and its earnings per share rose 27% on year to $1.70. The company's call to slash prices of some of its chips and snacks likely supported the growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. Pepsi said it sees its organic revenue growing 2–4% in 2026, and its core constant currency earnings per share rising 4-6%. Shares of Pepsi closed over 2% higher.

 

Meanwhile, the number of people applying for fresh unemployment claims in the US fell 11,000 to 207,000 in the week ended Apr. 11, Reuters reported. This was lower than Reuters' estimate of 215,000. The figures indicated that the labour market remained steady, according to the report. However, there are possibilities of hiring taking a hit due to the war in West Asia. Continuing claims rose 31,000 to 1.82 million in the week ended Apr. 4.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Thursday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	7041.28	0.26
NASDAQ Composite	24102.704	0.36
Dow Jones Industrial Average	48578.72	0.24

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 93.195

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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