US equity indexes were mixed Monday as crude oil declined on a lull in US strikes on Iran, while jitters over the AI trade increased.
* The US paused military attacks against Iran over the weekend, while Tehran also refrained from retaliatory action, multiple media outlets reported.
* New orders for US durable goods rose 0.3% in June following a decline of 4% in May, compared with expectations for an increase of 1.8% in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.
* September West Texas Intermediate crude oil tumbled $7.33 to settle at $81.98 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $9.02 at $87.76.
* Salesforce (CRM) shares rose 6.1%, the top gainer on the Dow, after the US Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday awarded the company, through its distribution network, a three-year $1.6 billion agentic enterprise license agreement.
* Nvidia (NVDA) agreed to expand its partnership with South Korea's SK Group through an AI infrastructure initiative valued at more than $500 billion that will provide the US company with a stable supply of next-generation AI memory from SK hynix (SKHY). Separately, Nvidia is in talks to provide a $250 billion financial backstop for Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI as part of a massive data center project in southern Ohio, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Nvidia's shares dropped 5%, the steepest decliner on the Dow.