Trump Hails S&P 500's Best Quarter Since 2020 as US-Iran Indirect Talks Wrap Up

The U.S. stock market has closed out its most profitable quarter in six years, a milestone celebrated by President Donald Trump as indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran wrapped up in Qatar, easing global energy supply fears.

A Tech-Driven Market Surge The S&P 500 surged nearly 15% over the past three months, marking its strongest quarterly performance since the world began recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

This figure comes as the S&P 500 index closed at 6,528.52 points on March 31 and 7,499.3 points on June 30, totaling a 14.87% increase.

This massive showing was largely propelled by an almost 30% jump in mega-cap technology stocks between late March and May, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT ), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META ), Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA ), and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA ).

The broader market also saw significant gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 8.9% in its best first half of the year since 2021.

Investors have been heavily influenced by the geopolitical landscape, betting on an official end to the recent U.S.-Iran conflict.

Read Also: Trump Says Iran Talks 'Going Well'; Oil Falls to Nearly $67 While South Korea's KOSPI Slides More Than 5% Technical Talks In Doha This historic market rally coincides with the conclusion of two days of indirect, mediator-led talks between American and Iranian delegations in Doha.

According to Reuters, negotiators focused heavily on the interim agreement’s technical pillars: stabilizing maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and unfreezing Iranian assets.

Despite Reuters’ sources stating that the discussions remained strictly technical, President Trump projected optimism regarding broader diplomatic goals. “The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.” However, U.S.

Vice President JD Vance clarified that those broader discussions are slated for the future. "Obviously, we’re worried about the nuclear issue; we’re going to start talking about that," Vance noted.

Energy Markets React While the Doha meetings adjourned with no clear breakthrough toward a lasting peace, the easing of tensions has already sent ripples through global commodities.

Following Trump’s remarks, oil prices tumbled to their lowest level in four months, providing a massive tailwind for the domestic economy.

The next round of U.S.-Iran talks is scheduled to take place after July 9.

As of the publication of this piece, WTI Crude futures were 1.01% lower at $67.89, and Brent Crude futures tumbled 0.96% to $70.88.

How Have Markets Performed In 2026? The S&P 500 index has advanced 9.11% year-to-date.

Similarly, the Nasdaq Composite index was up 12.07%, and the Dow Jones gained 8.11 YTD.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY ) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, closed lower on Wednesday.

The SPY ended down 0.14% at $745.76, while the QQQ declined by 1.52% to $725.17.

Meanwhile, the Dow tracker, State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA ), closed 0.0019% higher on Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published editors.

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