US stock futures made gains Wednesday following a powerful rally across Wall Street to wrap up Q1, while investors weighed remarks from Trump that indicate he may be winding down hostilities against Iran.

Futures linked to the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose 0.7% as contracts on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) climbed 0.%. Dow futures (YM=F) rose 0.7%.


The market shifting moves were fueled by reports suggesting a potential diplomatic off-ramp in the Iran conflict. According to comments made to state media Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is open to de-escalation under certain conditions, stating Iran has "the necessary will to end this war".

Comments from the White House also indicated a shift in US posture, Trump has discussed ending the war even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, stating the war won't last "much longer."

The White House announced that Trump will deliver a speech on Wednesday to the nation at 9pm Washington time to give an update about the war in Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened attacks on a number of US tech companies with operations in the Middle East, including Nvidia, Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT) on Tuesday and said attacks would take place on Wednesday at 10am ET.

During the day Tuesday, equities staged a sharp rebound, with all three benchmarks showing the strongest single-day performance in over a month. Oil futures fell as stocks rose, Brent crude (BZ=F), fell by more than 2.9% to trade at $104 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) dropped before paring losses to trade over $100 per barrel.

Looking ahead, investors are preparing for a fresh batch of economic data to start the new quarter. Reports due Wednesday include retail sales figures, ADP’s private payrolls data for March, and the latest reading on manufacturing activity from the Institute for Supply Management.