Stocks rose on Monday as oil prices fluctuated in response to the latest bout of military exchanges between the U.S. and Iran. Chipmakers also traded higher to give U.S. equity markets a boost.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.9% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 221 points, or 0.4%.
The U.S. completed its ninth consecutive day of strikes on Iran overnight, but investor sentiment improved by midmorning in London after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei lifted hopes for a diplomatic settlement.
Baghaei told reporters that intermediaries had continued to exchange messages with Iran amid the latest round of U.S. strikes, and said negotiations between the two adversaries could be pursued based on national interests.
That said, U.S. crude futures were last little changed at around $82 per barrel, reversing an earlier gain. International benchmark Brent also eased from levels seen overnight, trading up marginally at nearly $88.
“Investors still don’t think Trump has the tolerance for a material escalation of the US force posture in the Middle East (i.e. deploying troops) and if that’s the case, then some type of a diplomatic resolution is inevitable,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.
Giving U.S. stocks a bid were chipmakers, as they tried to recover some of their steep losses from last week.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained more than 2%. Micron Technology led the advance, climbing around 5%. Astera Labs also gained 5%, while Teradyne rose more than 6%. Advanced Micro Devices rose more than 4%.
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