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WALL STREET RALLIES TO RECORD HIGHS ON PEACE TALK HOPES, ROBUST EARNINGS

U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday and crude prices tanked in a risk-on rally driven by U.S.-Iran peace optimism and consensus-beating corporate earnings.

All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced more than 1%, with across-the-board gains in the Magnificent Seven MAGS.K group of artificial intelligence-related shares putting the Nasdaq out front.

The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC notched their fourth record closing highs over the last five sessions.

Other indexes to reach all-time closing highs included S&P 400 mid-cap .Mid, Nasdaq 100 .NDX, S&P 100 .OEX, large-cap Russell 1000 .RUI, small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT, PHLX semiconductor index .SOX, S&P 600 small-cap .SPCY, S&P 500 communication services .SPLRCL and S&P 500 technology .SPLRCT.

The blue-chip Dow .DJI remains within 1% of its all-time closing high reached on February 10.

The S&P 500 gained 105.90 points, or 1.46%, to end at 7,365.12 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 512.82 points, or 2.03%, to 25,838.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 612.34 points, or 1.24%, to 49,910.59.

Reports that Washington and Tehran are making progress toward reaching an agreement to end the war buoyed sentiment and put investors in a buying mood, with industrials .SPLRCI, airlines .SPCOMAIR, microchips .SOX and aerospace/defense .SPCOMAED leading the gainers.

More than two-thirds of the way through first-quarter reporting season, S&P 500 companies have set a course for their biggest quarterly earnings growth in more than four years, with rosier guidance offering assurances that there's still plenty of gas in the tank.

Disney DIS.N, Kraft Heinz KHC.O and Uber UBER.O posted their results before the opening bell. They ended the day up 7.5%, 2.4% and 8.5%, respectively.

On Thursday, McDonald's MCD.N, News Corp NWSA.O, Microchip Technology MCHP.O and Akamai AKAM.O are among the companies on the docket.

ADP's National Employment Report showed private sector payrolls grew by 109,000 last month, 10.1% to the north of analyst estimates and more robust than the 75,000 private sector job adds economists expect the Labor Department's April employment report to show on Friday.

Tomorrow's indicators include a trio of labor market reports: weekly jobless claims, Challenger, Gray & Christmas planned layoffs, and Q1 labor costs/productivity. They will act as a prelude to the April jobs report, which will show, according to economists polled by Reuters, the economy added 62,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate repeated March's 4.3%. Hourly wage growth is expected to heat up on monthly and yearly bases to 0.3% and 3.8%, respectively.

Here's your closing snapshot:

(Stephen Culp)

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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

INVESTORS TURNED CAUTIOUS IN APRIL: SCHWAB CLICK HERE

WHY EMERGING MARKETS COULD SEE A SHARP DROP IN REMITTANCES CLICK HERE

THE IRAN-HORMUZ AFFAIR AND CHINA'S GROWING DIPLOMATIC LEVERAGE CLICK HERE

BOFA CLIENTS RETURN TO US STOCKS AS ETF INFLOWS HIT RECORD CLICK HERE

SWEET & SOUR TAKEAWAY: ADP AND MORTGAGE DEMAND CLICK HERE

US STOCKS GAIN AS IRAN PEACE OPTIMISM, AI MOMENTUM FUEL RALLY CLICK HERE

S&P 500 TESTS THE CEILING AS BULLS STEP ON THE GAS CLICK HERE

STOCKS TOUCH FRESH HIGHS, BUT SUPPORT NARROW - MFS IM CLICK HERE

ENERGY SHOCK NOT A MAJOR CHALLENGE TO EURO ZONE FISCAL POLICY CLICK HERE

BANKS, MINERS, AUTOS AND TRAVEL BOOSTED BY MIDEAST HEADLINES CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN OPTIMISM CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: TECH SURGE, EARNINGS POINT TO OPENING GAINS CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: STOCKS SURGE IN SEOUL AS SAMSUNG SURPASSES BERKSHIRE CLICK HERE