Wall Street climbs on signs of easing tensions in Middle East, chip stocks rally

Major Wall Street stock indices advanced on Monday, driven by a rebound in semiconductor equities and indications of moderating frictions within the Middle East.

As of 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.3% higher.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.5 points, or 0.26%, to 50,997.23. The S&P 500 rose 56.8 points, or 0.77%, to 7,440.57​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 355.6 points, or 1.38%, to 26,065.071.

Leading the upward momentum, Micron Technology spiked by 8.3% while Marvell Technology jumped 8.8%. Concurrently, Broadcom shares gained 3.2% as Nvidia stock value ticked up by 1.6%.

Corning shares climbed 7.6% after Amazon announced a multibillion dollar deal where Corning will produce optical fiber, cable and other products for its data centers across the country.

Within energy markets, crude futures rose following reciprocal military strikes between Israel and Iran, raising anxieties over a widened regional conflict. International benchmark Brent crude briefly surpassed $98 during overnight trading before retrenching to $94.25 — a 1.2% net gain — after Iran's military signaled an end to its offensive operations.

US President Donald Trump urged both Iran and its primary adversary Israel to cease hostilities, after recent cross-border engagements violated a fragile truce and stoked escalation anxieties.

Tehran cautioned that despite declaring a temporary operational pause, it retains the right to deliver a more severe retaliation should subsequent acts of provocation persist.

Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments said that "the market overreacted on Friday" with a tech sector sell-off while a solid US jobs report fueled fears that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates later in the year.

"Now we have cooler heads prevail, and buyers are showing up and buying the latest dip," Sarhan added.

In fixed income, government bonds saw slight relief. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield decelerated to 4.51%, down from the 4.55% registered at Friday's close.

Bullion

Gold values stabilized on Monday as optimism for an impending Israel-Iran truce assisted the commodity in bouncing back from earlier intraday lows.

By 9:27 a.m. ET (1327 GMT), spot gold was steady at $4,330.98 per ounce. US gold futures for August delivery were down 0.2% at $4,355.60.

"We rebounded off the overseas lows just on news that perhaps there's a new ceasefire between Iran and Israel. So that's taken a little bit of pressure off the downside," said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals.

Among other metals, spot silver was up 0.9% at $68.44 per ounce, platinum lost 1.1% to reach $1,757.15, while palladium fell 0.9% to $1,215.25.