U.S. stocks were rallying on Monday as oil prices gave back some of their initial spurts following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets at the end of last week, the Associated Press reports. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% in morning trading and on track to reclaim all of its drop from Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher.
As Israel and Iran continue to attack one another, fear remains that a wider war could constrict the flow of Iran’s oil to its customers, but past conflicts in the region have seen crude prices spike only temporarily.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil fell 4.4% on Monday to $69.79, while Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 3.5% to $71.66 per barrel. They both had jumped roughly 7% on Friday after the initial attacks.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.40 from 4.41% late Friday. A drop in oil prices could take pressure off inflation, and lower inflation removes some upward pressure on Treasury yields.
Sage Therapeutics jumped 35.4% for one of the market’s biggest gains after Supernus Pharmaceuticals said it would buy the biopharmaceutical company in a deal worth up to $795 million, or $12 per share, if certain conditions are met.
U.S. Steel rose 5.1% after Trump on Friday signed an executive order paving the way for an investment in the company by Japan’s Nippon Steel.
They helped offset drops for defense contractors, which gave back some of their jumps from Friday. Lockheed Martin fell 2.4%, and Northrop Grumman sank 1.9%.
