Asia Markets
US Equity Indexes Advance, Treasury Yields Rise With Crude Oil as Trump Explores Options to Tame Iran
US equity indexes rose on Monday, alongside crude oil futures and Treasury yields, as President Donald Trump reportedly planned to meet national security officials after rejecting Iran's response to a proposal to restart the peace process.The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to 7,412.84, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 49,706.47, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.1% to 26,274.13. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq scaled new all-time peaks intraday.Energy was the top gainer at the close, ahead of materials, technology, and industrials. Communication services and consumer staples led the decliners.Heavyweights Qualcomm (QCOM), Micro Technology (MU), Tesla (TSLA), and Intel (INTC) were among the top five gainers intraday in a category of stocks with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion, according to data compiled by Finviz.President Trump said the US-Iran ceasefire is on "massive life support," after he rejected Tehran's response to his peace proposal as unserious, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Iran had demanded a lifting of the US naval blockade and sanctions relief, while maintaining a degree of control over traffic through Hormuz, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.Trump, who has endorsed suspending the federal gasoline tax "for a period of time" in an interview with CBS News on Monday, is meeting his national security team to discuss the way forward, including possibly resuming military action against Iran, three US officials told Axios.The US officials said Trump wants a deal to end the war, Axios reported. But Iran's rejection of many of Trump's demands and refusal to make meaningful concessions on its nuclear program puts the military option back on the table, the news report added.West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 3% to $98.26, and Brent crude futures increased 3% to $104.27.US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year up 4.8 basis points to 4.41% and the two-year rate higher by 6.1 basis points to 3.95%.In economic news, the pace of US existing home sales rose 0.2% to a 4.02 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in April from 4.01 million in March, below expectations for a 4.05 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, data from the National Association of Realtors released Monday showed. Total sales were unchanged from a year earlier.In company news, Lumentum (LITE) said Monday that its stock will be included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, effective May 18. Shares surged 17%, the top gainer on the S&P 500.HSBC downgraded Trade Desk (TTD) to reduce from hold while adjusting its price target to $20 from $31. Shares slumped 7.4%, among the worst performers on the S&P 500.In precious metals, gold futures rose 0.4% to $4,747.2, and silver futures surged 7.5% to $86.91.
Dow JonesNasdaq CompositeS&P 500$INTC$LITE$MU$QCOM$TSLA$TTD