US S&P 500 tops 7,700 points for the first time amid hopes for Strait of Hormuz reopening

The S&P 500 surged 1.8 percent on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 to top 7,700 points for the first time, breaking its previous record of 7,620.90 set on June 2. According to Al Jazeera, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.7 percent to 54,085.88, a record for a second straight day, while the S&P 500's year to date gain reached 12.80 percent. Shares of Palantir Technologies jumped 29.5 percent after reporting second quarter revenue of 1.94 billion dollars.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday he hoped a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would happen "very shortly," while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC an agreement could come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei described talks with Oman on designating safe shipping routes as "positive." Ship tracking platform MarineTraffic showed only nine vessels transited the strait on Sunday, compared with roughly 130 daily crossings before the US Israel war on Iran. The rally continued in Asia on Wednesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei up 3.7 percent and Seoul's Kospi up 3.8 percent, while Brent crude rose 0.8 percent to 79.98 dollars a barrel as of 07:30 GMT Wednesday.