Stocks Soar, Oil Sinks After Iran Declares the Strait of Hormuz Open

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0:22Stocks are up, oil is down. After Iran says the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping corridor is now open. So where does that leave the U.S. war with Iran? A senior Trump administration official says there may be more talks in Pakistan on Monday. And President Trump's feud with Pope Leo is dividing American Catholics. Trump won with more than 50 percent of the Catholic vote. It's not a group he can afford to lose. And heading into the midterms, Republicans don't want to lose anyone at this point. It's Friday, April 17th. I'm Pierre Bien-Aimé for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Ossela.

0:55This is the PM edition of What's News, The top headlines and business stories that moved the world today.

1:05We begin in Iran, whose foreign minister today said the Strait of Hormuz is now, quote, completely open to commercial ships. But President Trump said the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports would remain. There's still uncertainty for shippers in the region. They want clear assurances from Iran that it won't attack ships before resuming normal traffic through the strait. Joining me now is national security correspondent Shelby Holliday. Shelby, this is the third time you've joined us this week to talk about these conflicts where things are developing quickly. Get us up to speed. What's going on now in the waters around Iran?

1:38It's a really fluid situation. Even though Iran's foreign minister said the Strait of Hormuz is open, ships can transit freely, it's a little bit unclear if anything's actually changed. Our understanding is that Iran is still asking ships to go through its preferred route through a corridor that they've established and in some cases even charged tolls for ships to go through. And then on the U.S. side, nothing has changed with respect to the blockade. The U.S. is still maintaining this economic pressure. President Trump welcomed this announcement by Iran that the strait was open and there was some talk about clearing mines.

2:11But so far, shipping companies are nervous to move through the strait because they want more of a guarantee that hostilities have ended and that the threats do not exist. And the ceasefire between the two countries is set to expire Tuesday. What do we know about negotiations between these two sides? The highly enriched uranium, or HEU, seems to be the biggest sticking point, at least when you're listening to President Trump. That seems to be the one thing that he's very focused on. And he has said that the U.S. will go in and get what he calls the nuclear dust, Iran's remaining nuclear material, so that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

2:45And then you also have these key issues of Iran's missile and drone stockpiles, and also their support for proxy groups. President Trump has said that he will not lift the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports unless Iran agrees to all of these things the U.S. is asking. That was Wall Street Journal national security correspondent Shelby Holliday. Thank you, Shelby. Thank you. Talks between the U.S. and Iran haven't officially been scheduled, but a senior Trump administration official says they're likely to take place Monday in Pakistan. What's News and Markets host Imani Moiz says hopes for a resolution to the war again lifted U.S.

3:19stocks today. The big news of today is obviously Iran declaring the Strait of Bermuda open. And whether or not ships are actually passing through the waterway, markets are seeing that as a sign that tensions in the region are thawing and we're perhaps moving closer to some sort of resolution. Investors are really looking past the war. And once you start doing that, they start seeing positive signs elsewhere. Banks reporting that consumers are strong. Tech companies saying AI demand remains strong. So there's a lot of really bullish signs for investors to push the markets higher. The Nasdaq rose for the 13th straight trading day, the longest winning streak since 1992.

3:58It closed up 1.5 % today, while the S &P closed at a record for the third time this week. The Dow today climbed 1.8 % and closed at its highest level since before the war. And oil tumbled, with the international benchmark Brent crude diving more than 9 % to about$90 a barrel. Coming up, the White House and Anthropic might be making up, just as the company has a powerful new AI model on its hands. And we exclusively report that baseball's San Diego Padres are nearing a sale. And it could be one for the books. That's after the break.

4:38Hi, this is Alex Osula, host of the WSJ's What's News podcast. We bring you the biggest news of the day, from business and finance to global and political developments that move markets. If you're looking for more insights and tools to understand the latest headlines, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash what's news to subscribe now.

5:08President Trump has gotten into a fight with Pope Leo, a fellow American. The Pope has publicly condemned the war in Iran and taken a few digs at the President. Yesterday, he had this to say during a speech in Cameroon. Jesus told us, blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. Trump, meanwhile, has criticized the Pope, saying he's catering to the left and being, quote, weak on crime. He also shared, and later deleted, an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure, which also caused an uproar.

5:52The dispute is testing the loyalties of the roughly 53 million Roman Catholics in the U.S., some of whom spoke to Wall Street Journal reporter Chris Marr. Chris, what did you hear from some of the Catholics you spoke to? The people I spoke to, and I think this was consistent with the other reporters, we found that some people were continuing to support President Trump. Others were really confused and even appalled by some of his recent criticisms of Pope Leo. One person I spoke to here in Pittsburgh was Joyce Rothermill. She's very focused on social issues within the church and has not been a fan of President Trump to begin with, and this did not change any of her views.

6:30She is, however, very supportive of Pope Leo. I'm so grateful that the Holy Father, Pope Leo, has the courage to do his job, which is to speak up on issues of morality and issues of theology in such a forthright way. Another person that we spoke to was Joseph Alessandro, and he was in the camp where Catholics feel that the Pope may be overstepping his bounds by getting into politics. They both have their different views, and that's why politics should stay away from their religion. You can't mix politics with religion. How important are Catholic voters to Trump's coalition? They're pretty important.

7:11Both the president and the Pope have been pretty popular among American Catholics. Trump won with more than 50 % of the Catholic vote. They've complained about his social media posting sometimes, this AI-generated image that he posted recently. But they've been willing to look past those things in the past because he made good on some of his campaign pledges to do things like appoint Supreme Court justices who ended up overturning Roe v. Wade. It's not a group he can afford to lose. And heading into the midterms, Republicans don't want to lose anyone at this point. That was Wall Street Journal reporter Chris Maher.

7:44Chris, thanks so much. Thank you.

7:49The Journal has learned that Anthropix CEO Dario Amadei was scheduled to meet with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles today in a high-profile effort to ease tensions with the Trump administration. The artificial intelligence company has been fighting with the administration for months over guardrails surrounding the Pentagon's use of its clawed AI models. Anthropix's latest AI model, Mythos, is now providing a reason for peace talks. Anthropix says Mythos is so good at finding and exploiting software bugs that it could be a cybersecurity risk. So for now, Anthropic has released a preview version to companies and organizations that run critical infrastructure.

8:25And Anthropic has been briefing government officials about minimizing harms. We're exclusively reporting that the Justice Department is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against some of the country's biggest egg producers, including CalMain Foods, over allegations they coordinated pricing. The lawsuit would target companies that raised egg prices in 2024 and 2025 due to a supply shortage attributed to avian flu. The egg companies declined to comment on the possible lawsuit. They have argued the price changes are a classic case of supply and demand, where limited supply and higher demand lead to higher prices.

9:01A consortium of French telecom companies has bid$24 billion for Altice Group's French telecommunications operations. The companies said today that they are in exclusive talks. The deal would reshape France's telecom sector, cutting the number of major operators from four to three. And it would dismantle a major part of French-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi's once sprawling business empire. And Ford is recalling up to 1.4 million F-150 pickups because the trucks can unexpectedly downshift into second gear, which could cause drivers to lose control of the vehicle. The recall affects certain 2015 to 2017 trucks.

9:42And finally, in sports.

9:49That's from MLB TV's stream of yesterday's game between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners. The Padres went on to win that home game. And today, we're exclusively reporting that the team is nearing a deal to sell for a record price. Private equity billionaire Jose Feliciano and his wife, Kwanzaa Jones, want the Padres for about$3.9 billion. The deal is expected to be announced next week. It's the highest ever valuation for a Major League Baseball team, including hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen's$2.4 billion purchase of the New York Mets in 2020. And that's what's news for this week.

10:24Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, What's News in Markets. Then on Sunday, we'll be discussing how Democrats and Republicans are maneuvering for position ahead of the midterms. That's in What's News Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Danny Lewis with supervising producer Tali Arbel. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Chris Zinsley is our deputy editor. And I'm Pierre Bien-Aimé. Thanks for listening.

11:02Hey, this is Telus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're reporters at The Wall Street Journal and the hosts of WSJ's Take on the Week. It's a weekly show that gives listeners a leg up in the world of markets and investing. From the Fed's moves to market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players, and business news ahead. If you're looking for more news and tools that you can use to help navigate the markets, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash takeontheweek to subscribe now.