Wall Street gains as oil dips while Tesla surges

Perth Now

7 hours ago

US stock indexes have rallied as investors looked past worries of potential crude supply disruptions after the United States' strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran while Tesla surged after the EV-maker launched robotaxis.
Tesla's shares rose 9.5 per cent after it deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers on Sunday in Austin, Texas.
Meanwhile, oil prices dipped more than 1.0 per cent to $US76.2 per barrel, having touched a six-month high earlier, as oil and gas transit continued on tankers from the Middle East after US air strikes against Iran over the weekend.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to retaliate against the US attacks but is yet to do so in a meaningful way.
Equity markets have been pressured in recent days as the Israel-Iran attacks raised concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East, disrupting oil prices and raising concerns about a resurgence in inflationary pressures.
The benchmark S&P 500 index remains about 2.3 per cent below its record level.
"I think the market is certainly in a holding pattern, waiting to see the level of Iran's response to the US weekend attacks," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.
"There's a sense that investors are conditioned not to think that geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East will have a long-term impact on the market."
US business activity slowed marginally in June while prices increased further amid US President Donald Trump's tariffs, indicating that inflation might rise in the second half of 2025.
However, Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michelle Bowman, recently tapped by Trump as the central bank's top bank overseer, said the time to cut interest rates could be fast approaching and that she is growing more worried about risks to the job market, and less concerned tariffs will cause an inflation problem.
In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 95.63 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 42,302.45, the S&P 500 gained 28.89 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 5,996.73, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 109.12 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 19,556.61.
The focus will be on US core PCE data and final GDP reading this week, as well as Fed chair Jerome Powell's two-day semiannual testimony before Congress.
The US central bank held interest rates steady in its June monetary policy meeting but flagged inflationary risks due to higher trade duties.
In earnings, investors awaited fourth-quarter results from sportswear company Nike and parcel delivery firm FedEx, both expected later in the week.
Among other movers, drug maker Eli Lilly rose 1.3 per cent.
Its rival Novo Nordisk fell 5.4 per cent after detailed trial data on its experimental obesity drug CagriSema failed to impress investors.
Fiserv's shares rose nearly 2.0 per cent after the fintech firm announced plans to launch a new digital asset platform.
Northern Trust surged 8.6 per cent after a Wall Street Journal report said Bank of New York Mellon approached the asset and wealth manager for a potential merger.
On the flip side, AI-server-maker Super Micro Computer dropped 4.6 per cent after it announced a private offering of $US2 billion ($A3.1 billion) five-year convertible bonds.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.98-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.32-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted seven new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 71 new lows.