US stocks: Wall Street ends higher as investors parse US-Iran negotiations, threats

US STOCKS advanced on Monday as investors looked for signs of progress toward a US-Iran ceasefire deal and evaluated President Donald Trump’s progressively heated threats of escalation should Iran fail to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has rejected the US proposal for an immediate ceasefire, insisting instead on a permanent end to the war, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The rejection followed Trump’s increasingly bellicose ultimatums, vowing to rain “hell” on Iran if the crucial Strait of Hormuz bottleneck remains closed to oil tanker traffic.

Investors drew some reassurance from a report that indicated the US, Iran and a group of regional mediators continued to discuss terms of a potential ceasefire.

All three major US indexes advanced slightly, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on track for the fourth consecutive day of gains, their longest winning streaks since January.

“The reality is we’re inching, hopefully, closer to some type of resolution,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “Unfortunately, it’s not going to be today. But I think investors are feeling like we’re seeing more talking on each side.”

“The day-to-day volatility and headlines can be rather nauseating,” Detrick added. “But there’s a sense of optimism in the air with this upcoming earnings season, which starts very soon, that corporate America once again will show solid, solid performance and likely justifying what we still think is a bull market.”

The US-Israeli war on Iran has roiled markets for a little over a month. Spiking crude prices stoked inflation fears, and stocks have tumbled. Even though the S&P was on track for its fourth consecutive session of gains, the bellwether index remains down 3.9 per cent since the conflict began.

Economic data on Monday showed the US services sector expanded at a slower-than-expected pace in March, even as employment contracted in the sector and prices paid, an inflation predictor, surged to its highest level since October 2022.

The much-anticipated March jobs report, released on the Good Friday market holiday, showed the US economy added 178,000 jobs last month, nearly triple the 60,000 consensus, an upside surprise dampened by a revision of February’s job losses, to 133,000 from 92,000.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 165.21 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 46,669.88, the S&P 500 gained 29.33 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 6,612.02 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 117.16 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 21,996.34.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, communication services notched the largest percentage gains, while utilities were the biggest laggards.

Travel/leisure stocks, aerospace & defence and homebuilders were clear outperformers.

Shares of Soleno Therapeutics jumped 32.3 per cent after Neurocrine Biosciences agreed to acquire the rare-disease drugmaker for US$2.9 billion in cash.

Rising bitcoin prices helped US-listed shares of cryptocurrency-linked firms Coinbase and Strategy advance 1.9 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.93-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 88 new highs and 54 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,918 stocks rose and 1,788 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.63-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted seven new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 70 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 14.78 billion shares, compared with the 19.51 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS