Wall Street Climbs at Midday as Oil Tumbles 7 Percent on Iran Peace Hopes
The Dow was up 550 points late Monday morning, Reuters reported, as a sharp fall in oil prices on hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal lifted stocks heading into Election Day.
Wall Street spent Monday morning climbing on cheaper oil and a steadier AI trade. Reuters reported that the main indexes rose as crude tumbled more than 7 percent on hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal, with investors also bracing for Tuesday's midterm elections and another heavy week of earnings. At 11:49 a.m. Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 549.85 points, or 1.06 percent, at 52,320.16; the S&P 500 had gained 43.80 points, or 0.58 percent, to 7,623.75; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 164.91 points, or 0.65 percent, at 25,601.91.
The fuel for the move was the oil price itself. Brent crude fell to its lowest in more than two weeks as Iran's talks with Qatari officials about ending the eight-month conflict with the United States raised hopes that Middle East supply disruptions could ease; Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country's supreme leader has granted "certain authorities" to the government regarding peace talks, state media reported. Eight of the eleven major S&P 500 sectors were positive, led by consumer discretionary, while energy — the sector that owns the falling commodity — dropped more than 2.8 percent. Among the megacaps, Nvidia rose 1 percent and Amazon gained 4.5 percent.
Under the index calm, the AI trade was still arguing with itself. Oracle fell 5.5 percent after regulatory filings showed it plans to raise $20 billion through a debt and share sale, feeding the session's running question of how much borrowed money the build-out can justify. Marvell Technology dropped 7.6 percent after announcing a $115 billion all-stock deal, including debt, for optical-components maker Lumentum, whose own shares fell 12.9 percent. Intel extended its losses, down 4.8 percent after Friday's worst one-day fall since the 1980s, while Apple slipped 1.6 percent ahead of earnings due after the bell and AMD's report waits later in the week. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly three to one on the New York Stock Exchange.
Monday's other data point was quiet and solid: U.S. manufacturing activity picked up in October amid firm domestic demand. What the market does next is not really about Monday — Democrats are widely predicted to win the House, Reuters noted, while the Senate is more in doubt, and by Tuesday night the city's traders will be pricing a new Congress instead of a possible peace deal.
