04:10 PM EDT, 04/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes were higher on Wednesday as crude oil prices fell sharply after a conditional two-week ceasefire agreement was announced by the US and Iran.

* Multiple media reports said that Vice President JD Vance will lead the talks with Iran in Pakistan, following the conditional two-week ceasefire deal with Tehran.

* Federal Open Market Committee members want to remain "nimble" in responding to incoming data, with views still mixed on the future policy path, minutes of the March 17-18 FOMC meeting released Wednesday showed.

* May West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell $16.67 to settle at $96.28 per barrel, while June Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $12.81 at $96.46.

* Intel ( INTC ) shares were up more than 11% after the company said it has signed an agreement with SambaNova to address limitations around graphics processing unit, or GPU, only artificial intelligence inference architectures. The planned reopening of the Strait of Hormuz also supported the stock on Wednesday.

* Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) expects its global oil-equivalent output to take a hit in Q1 on production disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict. Shares of the company were down 4.7%.