Wall Street stocks opened higher Monday after US President Donald Trump claimed progress in talks with Iran, even as he threatened to destroy key oil facilities on Kharg Island and to decimate the country's power infrastructure.
International benchmark Brent North Sea crude was up 2.2 percent to $115.02 per barrel on Monday morning, while the main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, rose 1.7 percent to $101.35, AFP reported.
All three major US indices started the week on the front foot.
About ten minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8 percent at 21,124.23, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9 percent at 45,566.69, and the broad-based S&P 500 also rose 0.9 percent to 6,426.20.
Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management said investors "would desperately like to see an exit ramp in this war."
Still, even as Trump claims progress towards talks, he is often contradicted by Tehran and the Middle East region remains engulfed by war, with US-Israeli strikes continuing, Iran's retaliation targeting US allies in the Gulf and Israeli strikes against Lebanon expanding.
"The market's going to wake up every day and try to figure out where we are in the war with Iran and what that means for energy prices," said Hogan.
"If in fact, the president's announcement on Truth Social can be even taken a little bit seriously about negotiations going well, then the market would celebrate that."
Hogan added that markets were currently oversold and therefore "very susceptible to any good news, especially as it pertains to this war in Iran."
Monday's gains came after a series of losses last week, with the S&P 500 ending the week lower for the fifth straight week, its longest such run in four years.
