Futures linked to the main U.S. stock averages climb after President Donald Trump announces a pause to an operation to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and hints at progress toward a peace deal with Iran. Oil prices sink, but still hover above $100 a barrel. Elsewhere, profit at Advanced Micro Devices soars as the artificial intelligence boom powers demand for the chipmaker’s data center unit, while a frenzy of spending on the nascent technology helps raise the market value of Samsung Electronics past a key threshold.

1. Futures rise

U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Wednesday, as investors took hope from Trump’s U-turn on a drive to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and suggestion that a peace deal with Iran may be close.

By 03:31 ET (07:31 GMT), the Dow futures contract had ticked up by 79 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 futures had climbed by 20 points, or 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had risen by 186 points, or 0.7%.

The main averages on Wall Street ticked up in the prior session, while oil prices fell, after the White House moved to downplay a rash of violence in the strait earlier in the week.

Corporate America’s latest earnings season has also been broadly solid, possibly indicating that major companies have so far been able to ride the waves of economic uncertainty caused by the war in Iran, at least for now.

Traders are now looking ahead to a run of results later this month for fiscal periods ending in April, including all-important reports from artificial intelligence semiconductor giant Nvidia and big-box retail titan Walmart.

2. Trump pauses “Project Freedom”

On Tuesday, Trump announced that so-called “Project Freedom,” a U.S. push to unblock the Strait of Hormuz by using military force to guide ships through the narrow the waterway, was being halted “for a short period of time.”

The operation, which came into effect earlier this week, was soon followed by a fresh bout of attacks in the strait and the Gulf region.

In a social media post, Trump claimed that the change had partially come at the request of Pakistan, a frequent mediator between Washington and Tehran. He added that “great progress” has been made toward a peace agreement with Iran.

Notably, Trump’s decision comes after talks between the foreign ministers of Iran and China. Beijing is a key buyer of Iranian oil, and media reports have suggested that China could be looking to persuade Tehran not to escalate tensions with the U.S. ahead of a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump next week.

3. Brent falls

Oil prices retreated in the wake of Trump’s announcement, with Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, sliding by 1.5% to $108.22 a barrel.

Still, the Brent contract is well above pre-war levels of around $70 a barrel.

The Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil, remains effectively closed off to tanker traffic, as it has for weeks. Both the U.S. and Iran have set up blockades.

An energy shock caused by continued disruptions to shipping activity in the strait has contributed to fears over a spike in inflation around the world and a slowdown in global growth.

4. AMD profit and revenue spikes

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices ripped in extended hours trading, after strength at the AI chipmaker’s data center business helped lift quarterly profit and revenue above expectations.

AMD notched a first-quarter income of $1.38 billion, up from $709 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share came in at $1.37, topping Wall Street forecasts of $1.28.

Revenue soared by 38% to $10.25 billion, also ahead of estimates, with data center division sales in particular climbing by 57% thanks to solid demand for AMD’s EPYC processors and more shipments of its Instinct GPU shipments.

CEO Lisa Su added that server growth is anticipated to “accelerate meaningfully” in the future as the company scales up supply to meet high demand.

Still, analysts are keeping an eye on how AMD stacks up compared to competitors like Nvidia and Broadcom. In a note, strategists at BofA Securities flagged that while they are “big believers in AMD’s execution,” the firm “is still exposed to uncertain share allocation” between other rivals supplying OpenAI, the startup behind blockbuster AI model ChatGPT.

5. Samsung’s market value surges to $1 trillion

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics surged past a $1 trillion market valuation for the first time on Wednesday, powered by a rally in memory chip stocks and fresh optimism around potential partnerships with major tech firms.

It is now just the second Asian company to reach this mark, behind contract chipmaking behemoth Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Shares have hit consecutive record highs in recent trading, with prices more than doubling so far this year. The latest leg of the rally was sparked in part by a Bloomberg News report that Apple has held exploratory talks with Samsung and Intel to manufacture the main processors for its devices.

Samsung has been a key beneficiary of a global memory upcycle, with chip profits soaring amid tight supply and strong demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI systems.