Traders work during the Csquare Inc. initial public offering (IPO) on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Thursday, July 16, 2026. <\/p>\n
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
The S&P 500<\/a> and Nasdaq Composite<\/a> rose on Monday as oil prices fluctuated in response to the latest bout of military exchanges between the U.S. and Iran. Chipmakers also traded higher to give U.S. equity markets a boost. <\/p>\n The broad market index advanced 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq traded 0.6% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> lost 158 points, or 0.3%.<\/p>\n The U.S. completed its ninth consecutive day of strikes on Iran overnight, but investor sentiment improved by midmorning in London after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei lifted hopes for a diplomatic settlement.<\/p>\n Baghaei told reporters that intermediaries had continued to exchange messages with Iran amid the\u00a0latest round of U.S. strikes<\/a>, and said negotiations between the two adversaries could be pursued based on national interests.<\/p>\n That said, U.S. crude futures were last little changed at around $82 per barrel, reversing an earlier gain. International benchmark Brent also eased from levels seen overnight, trading up marginally at roughly $88.<\/p>\n “Investors still don’t think Trump has the tolerance for a material escalation of the US force posture in the Middle East (i.e. deploying troops)\u00a0and if that’s the case, then\u00a0some type of a diplomatic resolution is inevitable,” wrote Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.<\/p>\n Giving U.S. stocks a bid were chipmakers, as they tried to recover some of their steep losses from last week. <\/p>\n The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)<\/a> gained more than 1%. Micron Technology<\/a> was a key leader of the advance, climbing more than 3%. Astera Labs<\/a> gained more than 4%, while Teradyne<\/a> rose more than 5%. Advanced Micro Devices<\/a> added more than 2%.<\/p>\n “The semiconductor and AI trade is undergoing a healthy reality check,” said Darrell Cronk, president of Wells Fargo Investment Institute and chief investment officer for Wealth and Investment Management. “Recent technical deterioration increases the risk of a deeper pullback toward longer-term support levels, including the 200-day moving averages.”<\/p>\n “While a short-term tactical rebound would not be surprising given oversold conditions, the intermediate-term uptrend has been disrupted,” he added.<\/p>\n