US equity indexes were off session highs as President Donald Trump appeared open to giving Iran time to review Washington's latest peace proposal while reportedly remaining firm on preventing Tehran from ever going nuclear.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 50,285.66, with the S&P 500 up 0.2% to 7,445.72 and the Nasdaq Composite higher by less than 0.1% to 26,293.10 on Thursday. After the open, all three indexes traded lower. The gauges, however, clawed back losses and traded higher after midday, before giving up some of the gains in the final leg.
All sectors except consumer staples, energy, and industrials rose. Utilities led the gainers.
The Islamic Republic is "reviewing" the views of the American side, CNBC cited Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying in a report from the state-run Nour News on Thursday. The latest US peace offer partly bridged the gap between warring sides, but disagreements remain, Bloomberg reported. Trump is prepared to wait a few more days to "get the right answers" from Tehran, CNBC reported.
Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei ordered enriched uranium to remain in the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two senior sources from the country. However, Tehran will "downblend" the nuclear material itself, an Iranian official on Thursday told Al Jazeera, which also reported that Trump has vowed to seize the nuclear material.
"We will get it. We don't need it, we don't want it. We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it," Reuters cited Trump as telling reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Further, Iran is also discussing with Oman ways to set up a permanent toll system to formalize its control of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reported Thursday. "Iran and Oman must mobilize all their resources both to provide security services and to manage navigation, in the most appropriate manner," the Iranian ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin-Nejad, told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 0.9% to $97.39, and Brent crude futures declined 0.9% to $104.12.
US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year leaning slightly lower at 4.57%. The two-year yield rose 3.4 basis points to 4.07%.
Late Wednesday, a majority of Federal Open Market Committee participants appeared to be leaning away from rate cuts for now and were open to the possibility of rate increases, minutes of the April 28-29 meeting showed.
In economic news Thursday, US initial jobless claims fell to 209,000 in the week ended May 16 from an upwardly revised 212,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for 210,000 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.
The May flash reading of manufacturing conditions from S&P Global rose to 55.3, a 48-month high, from 54.5 in April, compared with the 53.8 anticipated in a Bloomberg-compiled poll.
April housing starts fell 2.8% from the previous month to a 1.465 million annual rate, compared with expectations compiled by Bloomberg for a 1.410 million rate. Building permits jumped 5.8% to a 1.442 million rate in April, above the 1.384 million rate expected and following a decrease to a 1.363 million rate in March.
In company news, Nvidia (NVDA) reported overnight stronger-than-expected fiscal Q1 adjusted earnings and revenue. The chipmaker also unveiled an additional $80 billion share repurchase authorization and raised its quarterly dividend.