Wall Street opened in positive territory this Monday, as investors hope that the conflict between Iran and Israel, now in its fourth day, will remain contained—a sentiment reflected in oil prices, which are softening and dropping following last Friday’s surge.
Ten minutes after the opening bell, the Nasdaq was up 0.95% to 19,591 points; while the S&P 500 gained 0.76% to 6,022 units, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61% to 42,454 points.
Last week as a whole, the Dow Jones fell 1.3%; the S&P 500, 0.4%; and the Nasdaq, 0.6%.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude opened the week with a 1.77% decline, down to $71.69 a barrel.
This momentary decline comes even after Israel attacked two natural gas facilities in Iran over the weekend, heightening fears that the war would spread to energy infrastructure and cause disruptions in the region’s crude oil supply.
Since Friday, Israel has targeted military, energy, civil, and nuclear infrastructure in the Persian country, as well as numerous residential areas in Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran has already launched eight waves of attacks on Israel.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump will meet with G-7 leaders at a summit held in Canada. Several countries are viewing this meeting as an opportunity to negotiate tariffs with the US president.
This week will also bring the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision on interest rates, which are expected to remain unchanged once again.
On the corporate front, U.S. Steel rose 5.14% in early trading after announcing an agreement with Nippon Steel on Friday following more than a year of negotiations.
Among the 30 largest Dow stocks, the biggest gainers today were IBM (1.91%), American Express (1.64%), and Goldman Sachs (1.62%), with declines seen in Johnson & Johnson (-0.66%), Merck (-0.51%), and UnitedHealth (-0.38%).
photo credits for this post: Deultimominuto.net
