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US stocks were jittery on Monday as concerns about escalation in the Iran war eclipsed optimism stoked by strong quarterly earnings growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropped 0.4%, as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) held roughly flat following a strong finish to last week by Wall Street stocks.
Markets slid into the red in premarket trading following reports that two Iranian strikes hit a US patrol boat and that a US warship was turned back in the Strait of Hormuz. The US denied the reports from Iranian media outlets.
The developments come after President Trump said the US would start helping trapped ships to exit the key Gulf waterway on Monday, in a plan dubbed “Project Freedom”.
“If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post.
In response, Iran warned it would take action against US ships, and that any US “interference” in the strait would be taken as a violation of the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
Oil prices pulled back from sharper early-morning gains after the US military said two US-flagged vessels had successfully transited the waterway. Brent (BZ=F) crude futures held onto gains of 1.5% to trade near $110 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) held steady around $102.
On the corporate front, earnings from major semiconductor manufacturers Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (LSCC), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Arm Holdings (ARM) will highlight the week. Investors will also look to results from Palantir (PLTR) and Paramount Skydance (PSKY).
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Oil prices pulled back on Monday after reports from the US military that two US-flagged merchant vessels had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz as part of the “Project Freedom” initiative.
Brent crude futures (BZ=F) held onto gains of roughly 1.8%. The international benchmark spiked higher earlier in the morning on reports that Iran had struck a US warship, though US officials denied those reports. Contracts on WTI crude (CL=F) were up roughly 0.5% after earlier gains of up to 3% for the US benchmark.
President Trump said Sunday that the US military would “guide” ships out of the Strait of Hormuz while the US looked for ways to reopen the critical waterway to traffic. However, the plan from US Central Command stops short of providing naval escorts, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Early Monday, the US denied reports from Iranian state media that two missiles hit a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz, which helped ease an initial jump in prices after the reports.
The UAE on Monday said an oil carrier belonging to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company was struck by two Iranian drones. Meanwhile, US military leadership warned vessel owners that the mines have been placed throughout the strait by Iran.
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A rally in shares tied to artificial intelligence helped Asia’s stock benchmark wipe out losses sparked by the Iran war and climb back to an all-time high
Bloomberg reports:
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped as much as 2.3% on Monday, the most since April 8. Tech-heavy benchmarks in South Korea and Taiwan surged more than 4% each. The moves came after the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) extended a record-breaking streak Friday to mark a fifth week of gains, following solid earnings from tech mega caps.
The AI theme — a dominant feature of markets before the outbreak of the Middle East conflict — has returned to the forefront as last month’s ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran calmed investor nerves. Asia’s stock benchmark surged more than 13% in April, erasing almost all of the declines suffered in March.
… Asia has emerged as a key pillar of the AI boom, combining its dominance in semiconductor manufacturing with rapidly scaling data infrastructure. At the heart of it are three companies that provide essential hardware for AI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip foundry, and South Korea’s leading memory makers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.
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