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Financial Markets 04/06 15:39
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks drifted higher in hesitant trading on Monday,
ahead of a deadline that President Donald Trump has set to bomb Iranian power
plants.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last six.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq
composite climbed 0.5%.
Oil prices likewise rose after seesawing through the day amid uncertainty
about what will happen in the war with Iran and how long it will slow the
global flow of oil and natural gas. Iran on Monday rejected the latest
ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war.
"We won't merely accept a ceasefire," Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the
Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press. "We only accept
an end of the war with guarantees that we won't be attacked again."
Fighting continued in the war, meanwhile, including an Israeli attack on an
Iranian petrochemical plant. And in the background was the clock ticking toward
a deadline, one that Trump has moved multiple times, where he has threatened to
attack Iranian power plants if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth
of the world's oil typically sails through the strait during peacetime.
Trump on Monday suggested that his latest deadline of Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Eastern time will be the final one, saying he'd already given enough
extensions. "The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night
might be tomorrow night," Trump said.
Monday also offered the first chance for U.S. stock prices to react to a
report from Friday that said U.S. employers hired more workers last month than
economists expected. The unemployment rate unexpectedly improved.
They're encouraging signals for an economy that's had to absorb painful
leaps in costs for gasoline since the war's beginning. The average price for a
gallon of regular gasoline is nearly $4.12 across the country, according to
AAA. It was below $3 a couple days before the United States and Israel launched
attacks to begin the war in late February.
For countries that don't produce as much oil as the United States, the pain
has been even worse. That's because they are more reliant on oil coming from
the Middle East, and the war has blocked in much of the crude produced in the
Persian Gulf area. That oil typically gets to customers around the world by
exiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8% to settle at
$112.41 after erasing an earlier modest dip. Brent crude, the international
standard, added 0.8% to $109.77 per barrel and remains well above its roughly
$70 price from before the war.
On Wall Street, a split performance for the Big Tech stocks that dominate
the U.S. market kept things in check. Apple rose 1.1%, and Amazon added 1.4%.
Tesla slid 2.2%, and Microsoft fell 0.2%.
Bank stocks were strong, including a 1.3% rise for JPMorgan Chase.
CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders released on Monday
that the U.S. economy continues to be resilient, and businesses still look
healthy. He, though, also acknowledged that prices for stocks and other assets
are high, which could imply "anything less than positive outcomes could have a
dramatic impact on global markets."
All told, the S&P 500 rose 29.14 points to 6,611.83. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 165.21 to 46,669.88, and the Nasdaq composite climbed
117.16 to 21,996.34.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The 10-year
Treasury yield was sitting at 4.33%. That's still well above its 3.97% level
from before the war. The rise has pushed up rates for mortgages and other loans
going to U.S. households and businesses, which slows the economy.
A report on Monday said that finance, transportation and other U.S.
businesses in services sectors grew in March for a 21st straight month of
expansion. But the growth was slightly slower than economists expected, and a
measure of prices accelerated at its fastest pace since 2022 in a potentially
discouraging signal for inflation.
In stock markets abroad, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.5%, and South Korea's
Kospi jumped 1.4%. Many other markets in Europe and Asia were closed for
holidays.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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