Small Caps Rally, Oil Sinks 8% After Trump's 5-Day Iran Strike Pause: What's Moving Markets Monday?

A sharp contradiction between President Donald Trump and Iran did little to unsettle investors as U.S. equities staged a broad, relief-driven rebound by midday.

The S&P 500 bounced off four-month lows after Trump announced a five-day pause in military strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure—a move that sent crude oil tumbling nearly 8% and triggered a rapid unwinding of the war premium embedded across asset classes.

Trump claims that the U.S. and Iran had “very good and productive conversations” over the past two days, and later reiterated to Fox Business that “Iran wants to make a deal badly” with the two sides having “major points of agreement.” Iranian officials across multiple branches of government have flatly denied any negotiations, with one senior figure accusing Washington of spreading "fake news to manipulate financial and oil markets."

US Equities, Oil Market React Swiftly

WTI crude crashed as much as $11 from Friday’s close on the Trump’s 5-day pause announcement, touching a session low near $86 before partially recovering to around $90.39 per barrel by midday — still down $7.71, or 7.9%, on the day.

Brent crude fell to $103.14, shedding $9.05, or 8.1%.

The S&P 500 rose 88.99 points, or 1.37%, to 6,595 at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 788 points, or 1.72%, to 46,366, with Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM), and Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) among the blue-chip index’s biggest contributors, rising 4%, 3.7%, and 3.7%, respectively.

The Nasdaq 100 climbed 381 points, or 1.6%, to 24,280 points, paced by broad gains in large-cap technology names. 

Within Magnificent Seven stocks, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 3.21%, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) gained 2.9%, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 1.7%, and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) climbed 1.7%. The Russell 2000 small-cap index outperformed the large-cap benchmarks, gaining 62 points, or 2.58%, to 2,500.

Gold pared sharp early gains as risk appetite improved on the ceasefire news, retreating from a session high near $4,520 to trade around $4,388 per troy ounce, down $106, or 2.4%, by midday.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices

According to the Benzinga Pro platform:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) gained 1.4%,
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) soared 1.7%,
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1.4%,
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 2.3%.

War-Beaten Stocks Rallied

The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) was Monday’s best-performing S&P 500 sector, surging 2.5% as the prospect of sharply lower oil prices brightened the consumer spending outlook.

Industrials gained 1.7%, Technology added 1.4%, while Materials rose 1.4%.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:NCLH) surged 7%, making it one of Monday’s top performers in the Russell 1000, as lower energy prices and the prospect of reduced Middle East tensions lifted the travel and leisure sector. 

Peers Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) rallied 6% and 4.5%, respectively.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) advanced nearly 1% after the logistics giant reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings of $5.25 per share.

Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH) was among the session’s steepest decliners, falling 5.6%.

Energy was the notable laggard among advancing sectors, flat on the day. Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA), the gasoline retail chain, fell 4.7% as lower crude prices may signal margin compression at the pump. 

Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH) was the Russell 1000’s steepest loser, tumbling 5.5%.

Monday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers

Monday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers

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