Simply Good Foods Had a Simply Bad Day

US stocks rose on Thursday, even though oil prices did too, as financial markets moved more modestly a day after surging on optimism about a ceasefire in the war with Iran.

• The S&P 500 erased an early dip and rose 41.85 points, or 0.6%, to 6,824.66.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 275.88 points, or 0.6%, to 48,185.80.%, and
• The Nasdaq composite rose 187.42 points, or 0.8%, to 22,822.42.

Stocks rose after Israel's prime minister authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon, the AP reports. That eased worries that the two-week ceasefire announced late Tuesday may already be in trouble.

Crude oil prices pared some of their gains, but they nevertheless remained higher for the day on continued uncertainty about when oil tankers can start fully flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway has been at the center of President Trump's demands of Iran, and blockages there have kept oil and natural gas stuck in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide. The price for a barrel of benchmark US crude rose 3.7% to settle at $97.87 after briefly nearing $103 in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.2% to $95.92 per barrel.

• Given how far apart the United States and Iran seem to be in their demands, upward pressure on oil prices may be "here to stay for a while," according to strategists at Macquarie led by Thierry Wizman. Risks remain for renewed fighting, which could cause customers worldwide to hoard whatever oil supplies they do get. That could itself keep oil off the market, much like actual fighting targeting pipelines or oil tankers.

On Wall Street, Constellation Brands climbed 8.5% for one of the S&P 500's biggest gains after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, which sells Modelo beer and Robert Mondavi wines, said it saw encouraging trends heading into its new fiscal year. But it pulled its financial forecasts for the following fiscal year because of "limited near-term visibility" and other factors. CoreWeave rallied 3.5% after announcing an expanded, $21 billion deal with Meta Platforms to provide AI cloud capacity through December 2032. Meta rose 2.5%.

• On the losing end of Wall Street was Simply Good Foods, which sank 18.1% after reporting a worse drop in revenue than analysts expected. CEO Joe Scalzo called the results unsatisfactory and said the company behind the Quest and Atkins brands is making immediate changes to turn around its performance.

Mixed reports on the US economy also helped keep Wall Street in check. One said an underlying measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve considers important was slightly hotter in February than economists expected. It decelerated before the war with Iran began, but not by as much as economists expected. A separate report said that more US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. The number was not very high compared with history, but it could indicate an acceleration in layoffs.