dailyloe.com – The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed Monday despite escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend. The 30-stock benchmark lost 53 points, or 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.6 percent. Traders remain hard-pressed to fully price in a worst-case scenario.
David Wagner, head of equities and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, said to CNBC that the war with Iran is now in the rearview mirror for the market. Software stocks climbed, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) last up 0.6 percent. President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. had fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship.
This action occurred in the Gulf of Oman after Iran declined to join another round of peace talks in Pakistan planned by the U.S. Trump said in a Truth Social post that the Iranian ship is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. He stated the U.S. has full custody of the ship and is seeing what is on board.
Trump also threatened to blow up all power plants and bridges in Iran if the country did not agree to a deal with the U.S. A ceasefire between the two countries will expire this week. Crude prices surged significantly following these developments. West Texas Intermediate futures popped 5 percent to above $88 per barrel.
International Brent also advanced 5 percent to above $94 per barrel. Wall Street is coming off a winning week where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbed to all-time highs. That followed a ceasefire between Iran and Lebanon. At that time, Iran had declared that the Strait of Hormuz was reopened.
By Saturday vessel traffic through that key shipping lane was restricted again. State media said the U.S. did not fulfill their obligations. Trump has reiterated that the U.S. blockade of the strait would remain in place. He said it would stay until Iran agreed to U.S. demands, despite Iranian declarations.
The S&P 500 last week gained 4.5 percent while the Nasdaq Composite popped around 7 percent. The Nasdaq also posted on Friday its 13th consecutive winning session. This matched a streak not seen since 1992. The market’s resilience comes amid significant geopolitical uncertainty.
