US stocks were mixed in early trading on Monday evening, Beijing time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned lower. Shares of chipmakers generally advanced, providing a boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. Crude oil prices retreated after Iran signaled a willingness to negotiate.
The Dow Jones fell 19.33 points, or 0.04%, to 52,127.09; the Nasdaq Composite rose 178.65 points, or 0.70%, to 25,698.90; and the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points, or 0.40%, to 7,487.65.
Market sentiment improved after Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, offered hope for a diplomatic resolution following the US's ninth consecutive overnight strike against Iran, which occurred after midnight Eastern Time on Monday.
Baghaei told reporters that intermediaries continued to exchange messages with Iran during the latest US strikes and stated that negotiations between the two adversaries could proceed based on national interests.
Crude oil prices gave up earlier gains. US crude futures were recently down 1.9% at $80.96 per barrel. Brent crude also retreated from overnight levels, trading around $87.03 per barrel, a decline of 1.2%.
Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge wrote, "Investors still believe Trump lacks the appetite for a substantial escalation of the US military posture in the Middle East (i.e., deploying ground forces), and if that is indeed the case, then some form of diplomatic resolution is inevitable."
Chipmakers provided buying support for US equities as they attempted to recoup some of last week's significant losses.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rose more than 2%. Micron Technology led the gains, advancing over 5%. Astera Labs, Teradyne, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also each rose more than 3%.
All three major US stock indices closed lower last week, with pressure on chip stocks weighing on market sentiment. The S&P 500 fell 1.6%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.9%, and the 30-stock Dow Jones declined 0.9%. Furthermore, the SMH ETF posted its third weekly loss in four weeks, declining nearly 9%.
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