Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 24, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stocks rose Monday as investors weighed a pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, though selling pressure in chipmakers kept gains in check. Investors unloaded shares of Micron and other artificial intelligence-linked semiconductor names.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 247 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 advanced 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded roughly 1.4% higher. To be sure, the major averages were still below their session highs as of mid-morning.
Micron sank nearly 8% to its lowest price in roughly two weeks. Fellow memory chipmaker Sandisk also dropped 8.4%. Intel slid 5.3%.
SPX intraday
Comcast shares, meanwhile, rallied 9% after the company said it will spin off its media and tech businesses into two publicly traded companies. The separation is expected to be completed in about a year.
Alphabet also gained ground in Monday’s trading session, climbing more than 4% as investors reacted to its debut in the blue-chip Dow.
Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, told CNBC that some shakiness in the broader market is coming largely from a pullback in memory names led by chipmaker Micron.
“We’re in the biggest momentum market in decades, and those momentum stocks are going to be exceptionally volatile,” Ellerbroek said Monday. “We’re seeing that today with Micron.”
The U.S. and Iran agreed Sunday to pause hostilities and allow commercial vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz freely, following a weekend of military exchanges that threatened to derail negotiations aimed at ending their conflict.
“Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU,” a U.S. official told CNBC on Sunday. “Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely.”
The U.S. attacked Iranian military targets over the weekend in retaliation for Iranian strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump then threatened to annihilate Iran, saying in a Truth Social post: “United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!”
Crude prices rose at the start of the week as traders assessed whether the pause in hostilities would hold and ease concerns over disruptions to energy supplies. International Brent oil climbed 1.2% to $72.87 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures advanced 1.7% to $70.38.
“Neither side (especially the US) seems keen on a full resumption of hostilities and while unanticipated/unplanned escalation is possible, it’s likely the overall process remains headed toward a sustained détente,” said Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge.
