Wall Street's S&P 500 Hits Record Above 7,700 for First Time, Brent Crude Swings on Hormuz Reopening Hopes

According to a report by Al Jazeera on Saturday, August 8, 2026, Wall Street's S&P 500 index climbed 1.8 percent this week to close above 7,700 points for the first time, surpassing its previous record of 7,620.90 set on June 2; the index has gained 12.80 percent so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7 percent to a record 54,085.88, its second straight record close, with Palantir Technologies shares up 29.5 percent after forecast beating second quarter revenue of 1.94 billion dollars. Asian markets rallied too, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 up 3.7 percent and Seoul's Kospi up 3.8 percent. In oil markets, Brent crude fell about 5 percent overnight before rising 0.8 percent to 79.98 dollars a barrel as of 07:30 GMT. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would happen "very shortly," while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said an agreement could be reached within the same week. US Central Command said the strait remains "free and open" to commercial vessels and has assisted more than 1,000 vessels through it over the past three months, though ship tracking platform MarineTraffic recorded just 9 vessels transiting the strait on Sunday, compared with about 130 daily crossings before the war.