Wall Street recovers from Friday's shock as US stocks rise and oil
prices ease
[June 17, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Calm returned to Wall Street on Monday, and U.S. stocks
rose, while 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 S&P 500 climbed 0.9% to reclaim most of its drop from Friday. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq
composite gained 1.5%. They joined a worldwide climb for stock prices,
stretching from Asia to Europe.
Israel and Iran are continuing to attack each other, and a fear remains
that a wider war could constrict the flow of Iran’s oil to its
customers. That in turn could raise gasoline prices worldwide and keep
them high.
But past conflicts in the region have seen spikes for crude prices last
only briefly. They’ve receded after the fighting showed that it would
not disrupt the flow of oil, either Iran’s or other countries’ through
the narrow Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast.
Hopes that the fighting could remain similarly contained this time
around helped send oil prices back toward $71 per barrel on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, appeared to make a veiled
outreach for the U.S. to step in and negotiate an end to hostilities
between Israel and Iran, saying in a post on X that a phone call from
Washington to Israel’s leader “may pave the way for a return to
diplomacy.”
A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil fell 1.7% to $71.77, while Brent crude,
the international standard, dropped 1.3% to $73.23 per barrel. They had
both jumped roughly 7% on Friday after the initial attacks.
In another signal of calming fear in financial markets, the price of
gold also gave back some of its knee-jerk climb from Friday, when
investors were looking for someplace safe to park their cash. An ounce
of gold fell 1% to $3,417.30.
Wall Street has plenty of other concerns in addition to the fighting in
Iran and Israel. Key among them are President Donald Trump’s tariffs,
which still threaten to slow the economy and raise inflation if the U.S.
government doesn’t win trade deals with other countries to reduce
Trump’s taxes on imports.
The United States is meeting with six of the world’s largest economies
in Canada for a Group of Seven meeting, with the specter of tariffs
looming over the talks.
Later this week, the Federal Reserve is set to discuss whether to lower
or raise interest rates, with the decision due on Wednesday. The nearly
unanimous expectation among traders and economists is that the Fed will
make no move.
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Traders Michael Capolino, left, Fred Demarco, center, and Edward
McCarthy work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday,
June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 The Federal Reserve has been
hesitant to lower interest rates, and it’s been on hold this year
after cutting at the end of last year, because it’s waiting to see
how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation.
Inflation has remained relatively tame recently, and it’s near the
Fed’s target of 2%.
More important for financial markets on Wednesday will likely be the
latest set of forecasts that Fed officials will publish for where
they see the economy and interest rates heading in upcoming years.
Economists at Bank of America say it could show a forecast for just
one cut to interest rates this year, along with three more in 2026.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.45%
from 4.41% late Friday
On Wall Street, 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 signed an executive order on Friday
paving the way for an investment in the company by Japan’s Nippon
Steel. Trump would have unique influence over the operations of U.S.
Steel under the terms of the deal.
They helped offset drops for defense contractors, which gave back
some of their jumps from Friday. Lockheed Martin fell 4%, and
Northrop Grumman sank 3.7%.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 56.14 points to 6,033.11. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 317.30 to 42,515.09, and the Nasdaq
composite gained 294.39 to 19,701.21.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across most of Europe and
Asia.
Stocks climbed 0.7% in Hong Kong and 0.3% in Shanghai after data
showed stronger Chinese consumer spending for May but slower growth
in factory activity and investment.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.8%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied
1.3% for two of the world’s bigger gains.
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AP Writer Jiang Junzhe contributed.
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