U.S. stocks rose on Monday as investors considered a pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran during a volatile session to start a shortened trading week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 360 points, or 0.7%, on its way to a record close. The S&P 500 advanced 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite traded roughly 2% higher.
Alphabet was one of the notable gainers, rising more than 4% on its first day of trading as a member of the Dow Jones. Shares of Comcast, meanwhile, rose 6% after the firm said it would spin off its media and technology businesses into two publicly traded companies. The separation is expected to be completed in about a year.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained more than 3% after falling as much as 3.1%. Astera Labs, KLA and Applied Materials rose more than 11% each, leading the reversal.
These moves come as Wall Street begins a shortened trading week, and the US stock market will be closed on Friday for Independence Day, SEEbiz reports.
“There could be a little bit of poor liquidity [zbog skraćene sedmice trgovanja zbog praznika]so you could see bigger moves than expected,” Joe Tigay, portfolio manager at Equity Armor Investments, told CNBC. “We’re coming up to the end of the quarter as well, which can cause some illusions, so advisors want what they’re reporting in their quarterly reports to look attractive to their clients, and they’ve made some gains. A lot of the big names have made really big gains so far this year, so now … a lot of advisors are happy to do that.”
The US and Iran agreed on Sunday to end hostilities and allow commercial ships free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, after a weekend of military exchanges that threatened to derail talks aimed at ending their conflict.
“Technical talks should continue on all areas of the MoU,” a US official told CNBC on Sunday. “Both sides will withdraw for the time being, and vessels may move freely.”
The US attacked Iranian military targets over the weekend in retaliation for Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump then threatened to destroy Iran, saying in a post on Truth Social: “United States aircraft have just attacked Iran’s missile and drone depots and coastal radar sites for violating the Ceasefire Agreement, AGAIN!”
