US stocks see-sawed on Monday as investors tried to keep abreast of the news on the first day of trading since the US and Israel attacks on Iran began.
After dipping down over 1% across the board, the major indexes recovered most of their losses even after global markets saw heftier drops earlier in the day. At Monday’s closing, the Dow was down 0.15%, while the S&P 500 was 0.04% up. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.36% for the day.
Trading focused on tech stocks including Nvidia and Palantir, while a slowdown was seen in travel stocks including airlines United, Delta and American.
Earlier in the day, global markets saw deeper dips, with London’s FTSE 100 share index down 1.2% and Germany’s DAX 2.4% lower at closing.
Investors around the world are paying close attention to the possibility of rising gas prices after Iran retaliated against US air strikes. Gas prices have surged nearly 50% in some European and Asian markets since Saturday.
Over the weekend, Iranian drone strikes shut down QatarEnergy, the state-run gas company that is one of the largest producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world. Tehran also attacked tankers in the strait of Hormuz, an essential passageway for tankers heading to Europe and Asia.
By Monday, benchmarks for gas prices in Europe and Asia were up 40% at closing.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, was up 6.9% at closing. In the US, crude oil futures closed at around $72 per barrel – the highest since last summer, though still far below the peak of $120 a barrel seen after Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The conflict of Iran has piled more uncertainty on top of the US economy, which is still reeling from the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on prices. Mortgage rates rose on Monday after falling below 6% for the first time since 2022, going up to 6.12% as 10-year US Treasurys jumped 4%.
The US attack on Iran comes as Americans have started to sour on Trump over inflation after he campaigned on promises to quell the rising cost of living. Trump said Monday the war is anticipated to last from four to five weeks but could “go far longer than that”, an uncertainty that could trickle into consumer prices should attacks be drawn out.
JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Monday he was not worried about the impacts of the conflict on US inflation.
“The economy is not often driven by something like that unless it is prolonged,” Dimon said. “If it’s not prolonged, it’s not going to be a major inflationary hit.”
