US stocks advanced on Thursday, as ongoing talks towards a peaceful resolution to the six-week Middle East conflict helped ease concerns about a fragile US-Iran ceasefire. All three major US stock indexes gained ground after rebounding from earlier slumps as Israel sought talks with Lebanon.

“There is a growing recognition that this administration is more bark than bite, and is willing to make grandiose statements about the destruction of the world,” said Oliver Persch, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. “From an investor’s perspective, you have to decide whether to ignore it all or just take it in cash and sit it out for the next couple of years.”

In two sessions, the S&P 500 has rebounded above its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, two key technical levels.

Crude prices were up throughout the session as markets awaited Iran’s reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped. Front-month WTI futures settled up 3.66%, but remained below $100 a barrel.

The CBOE market volatility index, called the “fear index,” fell to its lowest level since the start of the war. The Commerce Department released its GDP and PCE reports, showing that the economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter, while consumer prices remained elevated.

The US Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary meeting showed that policymakers are increasingly eyeing possible interest rate hikes to counter the inflationary impact of the protracted Iran war.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 rose 41.13 points, or 0.61%, to close at 6,823.94 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 187.42 points, or 0.81%, to close at 22,819.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 273.73 points, or 0.57%, to 48,183.65. Consumer discretionary stocks got a boost after Amazon.com CEO Andy Jesse said artificial intelligence services in its cloud-computing unit were generating more than $15 billion in annual revenue. Amazon shares closed sharply higher.

“There are a lot of people who are questioning the potential positive impact of AI, and I think Amazon has shown that positive returns can happen faster than most expect,” Parsch added.

Software stocks were clear underperformers on the day, while retail and chips outperformed. Constellation Brands surged after the company reported a smaller-than-expected fall in fourth-quarter sales. Applied Digital shares fell after the data center operator’s third-quarter net loss widened from a year ago.