The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, or 202 points, while the S&P 500 was little changed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% as investors weighed geopolitical tensions and the latest corporate earnings.
Nvidia shares helped support the broader market, rising more than 1%. The chipmaker said on Monday it was partnering with six large asset managers to mobilise more than $500 billion for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Oil prices remained relatively steady after Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif said the US and Iran were “close to some sort of arrangement”. Brent crude, the global benchmark, hovered around $87 a barrel.
Iran has said it is nearing an agreement with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil shipments. However, Tehran continues to resist direct negotiations with Washington until several conditions are met.
The standoff has hardened after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s demand for war reparations and said he would allow economic pressure on the country to build. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said there was “no possibility of restarting negotiations” under current conditions.
Investors are also looking ahead to key US inflation data, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. Higher oil prices have renewed concerns over inflation even as a sharp slowdown in hiring raises questions about consumer spending and the broader economy.“I expect the CPI report to continue its downward trend which will further support the case for the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady rather than hiking them, even with last Friday’s weak jobs report,” Dennis Follmer, chief investment officer at Montis Financial, said, according to CNBC.
“Services inflation could continue to be a sticky problem, but that sector is not very sensitive to interest rates, so it shouldn’t really damage the case for holding steady,” he added.
