US Equity Indexes Rise Amid Tech Gains; Crude Oil Jumps as Hormuz Blockade Takes Effect
US equity indexes were higher in Monday's midday trading amid gains in technology and financials.Crude oil futures jumped as geopolitical risk mounted after Iran negotiations failed to yield a lasting peace deal.The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% to 23,061.8, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to 6,849.6. Both gauges traded lower earlier in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly up at 47,944.8.Defensive sectors -- consumer staples and utilities -- led the decliners. The financial services sector was among the top gainers, ahead of quarterly earnings from mega-cap banks due this week.Goldman Sachs (GS), which reported higher Q1 earnings and net revenue pre-bell, is launching a new three-tranche offering in the US investment-grade debt market, with bond maturities spanning four to eight years, Bloomberg said Monday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.Shares of the investment bank dropped 2.5% intraday, the steepest decline on the Dow.Further in company news, Oracle (ORCL) said it introduced AI-focused updates to its utilities software suite at its customer edge summit, targeting improvements in billing, grid operations, and asset management. Shares of the technology giant were up 11% intraday, the top gainer on the S&P 500.The recent sell-offs in Microsoft (MSFT), Salesforce (CRM), and ServiceNow (NOW) amid broader software apathy are disconnected from the artificial intelligence opportunities over the coming years, as enterprises prioritize integrating AI across tech stacks, Wedbush said in a note. Shares of Salesforce and Microsoft were up 4.7% and 2.9%, respectively, intraday, the Dow's top gainers.Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility Index was still up 3.7% to 19.93, after touching an intraday high of 21.58, as geopolitical risk remained elevated after the Iran peace talks brokered by Pakistan ended without an agreement with the US.The US military blockade on all traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports started at 10 a.m. ET Monday, after weekend peace talks in Pakistan faltered, CNN reported Monday. "If any of these ships [a reference to what the president calls Iran's 'fast attack ships'] come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," President Donald Trump said on a social media post.Iran responded by saying that no port in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman would be safe if its ports are threatened, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday."Once again, high stakes negotiations between the US and Iran deadlocked over Washington's zero uranium enrichment demand, setting the stage for further escalation in the 6-week war and prolonged supply disruptions in advance of summer driving season," Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy and MENA research at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note.West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures jumped 5.3% to $101.68, and Brent crude futures climbed 5.5% to $100.40, after surging more than 7.5% earlier in the session.US Treasury yields rose as gains in crude oil futures reignited inflation concerns. The 10-year yield was up 1.6 basis points to 4.33%, and the two-year rate climbed 1.3 basis points to 3.81%. In precious metals, gold futures fell 1.3% to $4,726.9 and silver futures declined 3.3% to $73.97.In US economic news, the pace of US existing home sales fell by 3.6% to a 3.98 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in March from 4.13 million in February, compared with a smaller decrease expected to a 4.05 million rate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:30 am ET, data from the National Association of Realtors released Monday showed. Total sales were down 1% from a year earlier."March home sales remained sluggish and below last year's pace," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Lower consumer confidence and softer job growth continue to hold back buyers."