Traders work during the initial public offering (IPO) of Csquare Inc. on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, USA, on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
S&P 500 Index And Nasdaq Composite Oil prices rose on Monday as oil prices fluctuated in response to the recent military skirmish between the US and Iran. Shares of chipmakers also traded higher, giving U.S. stock markets a boost.
The broad market index rose 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index traded 0.6% higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 134 points, or 0.3%.
The US ended its ninth straight day of strikes on Iran overnight, but investor sentiment improved by mid-morning in London after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei raised hopes of a diplomatic settlement.
Baghai told reporters that mediators continued to exchange messages with Iran during the latest round of U.S. strikes and said talks between the two adversaries could be based on national interests.
However, U.S. crude oil futures were last little changed at around $82 a barrel, reversing previous gains. International benchmark Brent also eased from yesterday’s levels, rising marginally to nearly $88.
“Investors still do not believe Trump will tolerate a significant escalation of the US military posture in the Middle East (i.e. troop deployments), and if so, then some kind of diplomatic solution is inevitable,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.
U.S. stocks were betting on chip makers as they tried to claw back some of their huge losses from last week.
VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained more than 2%. Micron Technology led the gain, rising about 5%. Astera Labs also added 5%, while Teradyn grew by more than 6%. Advanced microdevices grew by more than 4%.
“Semiconductor and artificial intelligence trading is undergoing a major reality check,” said Darrell Cronk, president of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute and chief investment officer of Wealth and Investment Management. “The recent technical deterioration increases the risk of a deeper pullback to longer-term support levels, including the 200-day moving averages.”
“While a short-term tactical rebound would not be surprising given the oversold conditions, the medium-term uptrend has been disrupted,” he added.
The three leading US indices closed in the red last week as pressure on chip stocks weighed on sentiment. SMH posted its third weekly decline in four weeks.