US equity indexes ground higher in midday trading on Tuesday as investors weighed the response from Israel and Hezbollah to President Donald Trump's call to stop fighting in Lebanon, while technology extended gains.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2% to 27,141.2, with the S&P 500 up 0.2% to 7,614.3, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 0.2% to 51,190.5.
Utilities and technology were among the gainers intraday, while communication services led the decliners. Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) surged 17%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, after the tech giant reported fiscal Q2 earnings ahead of analysts' forecasts.
US President Donald Trump said he believes a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire with Iran is reachable "over the next week," CNN reported.
Lebanese authorities said Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, agreed to a US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in which strikes on Beirut would stop, the news report said. Trump declared Israeli forces would not move on Beirut after a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it added.
Israel and Lebanon are engaged in discussions at the US State Department after Hezbollah and Israel continued to trade strikes overnight, CNN reported.
Brent crude futures edged up 0.1% to $95.10, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures climbed 0.2% to $92.35. Both crude types were lower by more than 1% each earlier in the session.
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