What Happened?

A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after President Trump reversed course on a military escalation against Iran that wiped $1.2 trillion from the market earlier in the day. 

The session opened under heavy pressure after Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. would attack Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT" and threatened to seize the country's oil assets. Then, around midday, he posted again cancelling the planned strikes. His statement said discussions had been brought to "the highest level of Iranian leadership" and that final points of a peace deal had been "approved by all parties involved," citing thirteen countries including the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar. A signing date would be "announced shortly." 

The market moved the moment the post landed. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4%, the Dow surged, and the Nasdaq gained 1.8%. Oil fell more than 3%. The 10-year Treasury yield eased from 4.55% to 4.47%. The read-through is simple: lower oil means lower inflation means less pressure on the Fed to hike. Iran's disruption of the Strait of Hormuz was the single largest driver of the 4.2% annual inflation print reported earlier in the week as energy alone accounted for more than 60% of May's monthly CPI increase. A ceasefire that reopens the Strait unwinds that pressure immediately, potentially taking the December rate hike that markets were fully pricing in off the table.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Vehicle Retailer company America's Car-Mart (NASDAQ: CRMT) jumped 6.1%. Is now the time to buy America's Car-Mart? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Department Store company Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) jumped 9.4%. Is now the time to buy Kohl's? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Department Store company Macy's (NYSE: M) jumped 6.8%. Is now the time to buy Macy's? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Kohl's (KSS)

Kohl’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 49 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 14 days ago when the stock gained 18.5% on the news that it reported impressive first quarter results which helped erase roughly half of the year-to-date loss. 

Kohl's comparable sales fell just 1.1%, materially less than the 1.7% decline analysts expected, driven by a notable stabilisation in its core Kohl's Card customer cohort. The stock moved not because Kohl's is recovering strongly, it still posted a net loss of $14 million, but because the rate of deterioration is clearly slowing, and the profit shortfall was far narrower than feared. EPS came in at a loss of $0.13, a beat of almost 40%. The most credible sign of stabilisation came from the Kohl's Card customer: this cohort had been running at a mid-single-digit comparable sales decline as recently as Q4; in Q1 it reached flat. 

Looking ahead, the company reaffirmed full-year guidance (adjusted EPS of $1.00 to $1.60, comp sales flat to down 2%) and disclosed $140 million in tariff refund claims already submitted, against $190 million in total eligibility, with none yet received and none included in guidance.

Kohl's is down 18.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $17.47 per share, it is trading 29.3% below its 52-week high of $24.71 from December 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Kohl’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $318.56.

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