WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday but continued to turn in a strong performance. The major averages all rebounded after ending last Friday's trading at their lowest levels in several months.
The major averages ended the day well off their highs of the session but still posted notable gains. The Dow surged 631.00 points or 1.4 percent to 46,208.47, the Nasdaq jumped 299.15 points or 1.4 percent to 21,946.76 and the S&P 500 shot up 74.52 points or 1.2 percent to 6,581.00.
The early rally on Wall Street came reaction to President Donald Trump backing down from his threats to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants unless they fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the U.S. and Iran have had 'very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.'
Trump said he has subsequently instructed the War Department to postpone all military strikes on Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period.
The president later told CNBC's Joe Kernen that the U.S. is 'very intent on making a deal with Iran' after previously claiming he wasn't interested in a deal.
Trump had threated to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants if they didn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Iran warned it would strike energy and water infrastructure across the Gulf in retaliation if Trump followed through with his threat.
However, buying interest waned somewhat as the day progressed, as Iran's state-run media said the country's foreign ministry has denied negotiating with the U.S.
Trump told reporters the U.S. is speaking with a 'top person' in Iran who he believes is the 'most respected' but acknowledged it is not the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Sector News
Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 4.2 percent after ending last Friday's trading at its lowest closing level in four months.
Substantial strength was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came despite a steep drop by the price of the precious metal.
Networking stocks also showed a significant move back to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 3 percent.
Steel, housing, oil service and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable strength amid broad based buying interest on Wall Street.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dove by 3.5 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plummeted by 3.6 percent.
Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the upside over the course of the session. The German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving sharply lower over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.7 basis points to 4.334 percent.
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