U.S. stocks tick up slightly as oil continues to retreat

U.S. stocks finished generally higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard and Poor's 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index all setting fresh all-time records.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182.60 points, or 0.36 percent, to a new historic close of 50,644.28. The benchmark Standard and Poor's 500 ticked up 1.24 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,520.36, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 18.55 points, or 0.07 percent, to finish at 26,674.74.

Market breadth among the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors was slightly negative, with six closing in the red. The energy and financial sectors led the laggards, dropping 1.52 percent and 0.82 percent, respectively. Consumer discretionary and consumer staples led the gainers, rising 1.89 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively.

According to a Reuters report citing Iranian state media, Tehran explicitly committed to restoring commercial maritime traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz back to pre-conflict baseline capacities within a one-month timeframe.

The announcement triggered a sharp sell-off in energy futures. The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery lost 5.21 U.S. dollars, or 5.55 percent, to settle at 88.68 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery sank 5.31 percent to settle at 94.29 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

In corporate developments, following a massive surge of over 19 percent in the previous session that pushed its market capitalization above 1 trillion dollars, memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology rose an additional 3.63 percent. The equity sustained its upward trajectory as investors continued to digest a highly favorable UBS report highlighting the long-term pricing power secured by memory component suppliers via multi-year supply agreements.

Investment strategists at Goldman Sachs upgraded their year-end target for the Standard and Poor's 500 Index to 8,000 from 7,600, aligning their expectations with peer forecasts at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. The revised targets imply a total projected return of roughly 17 percent for the benchmark index in 2026, fueled primarily by corporate margin expansions linked to technological efficiencies.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase fell nearly 2.5 percent to drag down the banking industry. The decline followed public commentary from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who disclosed during an industry event that the banking giant could potentially deploy up to 20 billion dollars toward a major strategic acquisition over the next couple of years.

U.S. stocks tick up slightly as oil continues to retreat

As the diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iran continues despite a faltering ceasefire, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran is prepared to use military power to break the U.S. maritime blockade should the negotiations collapse or run on too long.

Mohsen Rezaee, who also currently serves as a member of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, struck a confident tone about Iran's current trajectory in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tehran on Wednesday.

He said the country has withstood over two decades of crippling sanctions and continued to move forward.

"We have been under sanctions for more than 20 years. The number of sanctions likely exceeds 2,000, targeting individuals, enterprises, corporations, ships, insurance companies, and even foreign countries that interacted with us. However, we have managed to find solutions to neutralize these sanctions, and we will continue to do so moving forward," he said.

He said Iran aims to ease the sanctions burden through talks with the U.S., although at the same time, he said, Iran is ready to shift to a military response if the path to a peaceful resolution closes.

"Furthermore, we will compel the U.S. to lift these sanctions. We will force the U.S. to end the maritime blockade -- either through negotiations or, should they resist, through direct action and we will attack U.S. warships. Therefore, despite all the pressures, the future of our economy is bright and promising, while the future of the US economy is bleak," he said.

While any new war against Iran would be a dead end, the best way out for the U.S. is to continue talks, according to the senior official.

"We have prepared ourselves so that if the maritime blockade continues beyond a certain timeframe, we will launch an attack and break the blockade. The Americans have no choice but to negotiate. Continuing this war is a journey into a very dark tunnel for the United States. The more America chooses to fight, the deeper it enters a tunnel with no end. Yet for us, the path is perfectly clear. America is moving toward us in the dark, while we are monitoring their every move," he said.

Former IRGC chief says Iran ready to break U.S. naval blockade by force if talks fail