Dow Jumps 540 Points at the Open as Oil Falls 5% on Hopes for an Iran Deal
Wall Street rallied Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 540 points at the opening bell and Brent crude fell about 5%, with traders betting that diplomacy could end the eight-month war with Iran.
Wall Street rallied on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 540 points at the opening bell and oil prices fell about 5% as traders bet that diplomacy could bring the eight-month war with Iran to an end.
The Dow climbed 540.52 points, or 1.05%, to 51,826.25 at the open, while the S&P 500 gained 0.81% to 7,436.76 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.82% to 24,780.15. The gains grew through the morning: by 10:58 a.m. Eastern, the Dow was up 897.70 points, or 1.75%, at 52,183.43, with the S&P 500 up 2.19% and the Nasdaq up 2.75%. The figures are intraday snapshots, not closing results.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell about 5% to $93.38 a barrel in afternoon trading, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate dropped about 4.4% to $86.87. The drop extends a steep slide: Brent had already fallen about 16% last week to a two-month low of $93.22, its sharpest weekly fall since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump’s remarks moved oil
The trigger was President Donald Trump telling CNN on Sunday that he was “highly unlikely” to order new attacks on Iran as long as talks to end the conflict produce a strong agreement. The remark eased fears of a wider disruption to Middle East energy supplies, and traders priced out some of the war premium that had been built into crude.
The rebound followed a bruising week for technology and artificial intelligence stocks. The Dow had closed Friday at 51,285.73, down 0.46%, after investors sold AI shares on doubts about the returns from heavy spending. Nvidia was the one big exception to Monday’s rally: its shares fell in premarket trading after its board opened an independent investigation into chief executive Jensen Huang. Energy shares were the market’s weakest group as crude tumbled, while consumer discretionary stocks led the advance.
Traders now face their next test on Tuesday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes October’s consumer price index at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The report will shape expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates.
Reporting based on coverage by NationWire and Reuters.
