Micron Jumps Amid 'Surging Demand for Memory'

Stocks rose, and oil prices eased on Thursday as financial markets calmed a day after President Trump raised doubts about the temporary truce in the war with Iran.

• The S&P 500 rose 60.93 points, or 0.8%, to 7,543.64 and more than recovered its loss from the day before.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 139.02 points, or 0.3%, to 52,487.41.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 336.24 points, or 1.3%, to 26,206.89.

Oil prices gave back much of their jumps from the day before on worries about increased fighting in the Middle East, the AP reports. That helped Treasury yields ease in the bond market, which relaxed the pressure on other markets. Stock indexes rose in much of Europe and Asia.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.2% to $76.30. That's down from $78.02 the day before though still above its $71.80 price from the end of last week. The worry is that a return to full-blown war will block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. But Trump also said Wednesday that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in "long-term" military action, raising uncertainty about just what will happen. The swings for oil prices halted what had been a steady decline in gasoline prices, and the cost for a gallon climbed a nickel overnight, according to motor club AAA. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.85 Thursday, up 68 cents from a year earlier.

In the meantime, renewed strength for makers of computer chips and other winners of the boom around artificial-intelligence technology helped to support stock markets worldwide.

• On Wall Street, Micron Technology's climb of 4.5% was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Micron cited "surging demand for memory in the AI era" as it gave a progress update on construction in central New York of what it says is the largest semiconductor manufacturing site in US history.
• In South Korea, whose stock market is dominated by two companies that make semiconductors, the Kospi index rose 0.6% after tumbling 5.3% the day before. SK Hynix, which is preparing to sell shares of its stock that will trade in the United States, jumped 5.3% in Seoul.

Another big event for Wall Street is the upcoming start of earnings reporting season for companies. Next week, the biggest banks are set to unveil how much profit they made from April through June. Companies across industries will need to report strong growth to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. PepsiCo fell 3.3% even though it reported slightly better revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Numbers released by the company behind Gatorade and Doritos showed weakening trends in its North American food and drinks businesses.