By Janet H. Cho
Cruise stocks were surging on Monday at the prospect of a five-day delay in military strikes in Iran and "productive" talks about potentially ending hostilities in the Middle East.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings was among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 Index on Monday, up 6% to $20.09 just after 3 p.m. Eastern time, while the S&P 500 is up nearly 1.5%. Shares of Carnival Corp. were up 5.3% to $25.41, while Royal Caribbean was up 5.1% at $277.20.
Cruise stocks have seen the sharpest declines since the U.S. and Israel launched the joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Not only are these companies vulnerable to higher fuel prices, their demand hinges on passengers booking their travel months in advance.
Norwegian has dropped 17.7% since the attacks began through Monday's preliminary figures, and is down 10% so far this year.
Carnival is down 18.7% since the hostilities broke out, and is down 16.8% year to date, while Royal Caribbean has declined 10.8% since the war began, and is down 0.6% this year.
All three major stock indexes rallied after President Donald Trump posted on social media early Monday that he would postpone his threatened military strikes on Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure for five days because of "very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East" between U.S. and Iranian officials.
Trump said the postponement was subject to "the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions."
But Iran's foreign ministry said there had been no talks with the U.S. government.
Trump had threatened over the weekend to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran doesn't "FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 hours."
That sent crude oil prices above $112 a barrel on Sunday, and Nymex crude futures to just over $100 a barrel. Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, warned on Sunday that he expected average gasoline pump prices to rise above $4 a gallon in less than 48 hours.
U.S. gas prices were averaging $3.946 a gallon on Monday afternoon, up $1 a gallon from last month's average, according to GasBuddy's live price-tracking site.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2026 15:38 ET (19:38 GMT)
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