Equities gain, oil settles higher as investors watch US-Iran standoff

Source: Reuters.

Iran said on Monday it wanted a lasting end to the war with the US and Israel, and pushed back against pressure to swiftly reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a temporary ceasefire as the Americans and the Iranians weighed a framework plan to cease their five‑week conflict.

Trump said at a press conference that the US had an active and willing participant in talks with Iran. But he repeated threats to take out Iranian power plants and other key infrastructure, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the largest volume of strikes since day one of the war would occur on Monday and warned of more on Tuesday.

This was after the US president's expletive-laden Easter Sunday social media post, which threatened to target Iranian infrastructure unless it reopens the strait, through which a fifth of global energy traffic passes.

Crude rises in choppy session

Oil lost ground earlier in a choppy session as the US and Iran weighed a proposal for ending their conflict, but futures ultimately finished higher. US crude settled up 0.78 %, or 87 cents, at $112.41 a barrel while Brent settled at $109.77 per barrel, up 0.68%, or 74 cents.

"The stock market has been stuck in neutral for most of the day. All the focus is on geopolitics, as traders are waiting to see if President Trump follows through on his threat to resume bombing Iranian energy infrastructure on Tuesday night," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

On Wall Street, at 2:42 p.m. ET (1842 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.56 points, or 0.19%, to 46,594.11, the S&P 500 added 20.22 points, or 0.31%, to 6,602.91 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 97.17 points, or 0.45%, to 21,976.62.

With some financial markets closed for the Easter Monday and Tomb-Sweeping Day holidays, MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.65 points, or 0.27%, to 996.85.

Dollar falls against basket of currencies

In currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.28% to 99.98, with the euro up 0.25% at $1.1544.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.06% to 159.66.

The yen had flirted with the crucial 160 per dollar level after Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Friday put currency traders on notice, saying the government stands ready to act against speculative moves in foreign exchange markets as volatility has risen "significantly".

Yields on US Treasuries were down slightly on Monday, with investors caught between optimism over reports of a ceasefire plan and unease over Trump's threat to escalate strikes on Iran.

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"Markets are starting to digest that they can't take any single headline at face value. And part of that is that President Trump and Iran have been shifting their sentiment about how likely ceasefire negotiations are going to be," said Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial in Chicago.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 1.5 basis points to 4.331%, from 4.346% late on Friday, while the 30-year bond yield fell 2 basis points to 4.8856% from 4.906% late on Friday.

The two-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 0.8 basis points to 3.844%, from 3.852% late on Friday.

US stocks had briefly pared some gains after Institute for Supply Management data showed that US services sector growth slowed in March, while prices paid by businesses for inputs climbed to near a 3-1/2-year high, an early sign that the prolonged war with Iran was boosting inflation pressures.

In precious metals, gold futures gained while silver futures dipped as market participants awaited further signals on the US-Iran war and its impact on global interest rates.

Spot gold fell 0.53% to $4,651.37 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.63% to $4,680.60 an ounce, while spot silver fell 0.17% to $72.87 an ounce and US silver futures fell 1.22% to $71.85 an ounce.