The fragile ceasefire imposed by President Donald Trump between Israel and Iran appears to be holding. After last week’s seemingly devastating American strike against three Iranian nuclear facilities, the war may indeed be over, but the short road to peace was nonetheless rocky and the future remains uncertain.

From an attack on a US air base to a fragile ceasefire, this is how the Middle East conflict changed overnight.

Reports said Mr Trump had first secured Israel’s agreement to the ceasefire, then sent the proposal to Iran via Qatari intermediaries. Mr Trump said Iran would halt hostilities first, followed by Israel 12 hours later.

The S&P 500 Index is on track to close at an all-time high on Thursday as tariff and geopolitical concerns dissipate — capping a stunning recovery that has added almost $10 trillion to US stocks which were on the cusp of a bear market just two months ago.

Wall Street's S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes rose on Wednesday, hovering near a record peak, as a ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding and investors awaited more comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF has now marched more than 22.6% higher since President Trump paused implementing most reciprocal tariffs on April 9 for 90 days. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composi