US stocks drift higher ahead of Trump's deadline to bomb Iranian power
plants
[April 07, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted higher in hesitant trading on
Monday, ahead of a deadline that President Donald Trump has set to bomb
Iranian power plants.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last
six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points, or 0.4%, and the
Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
Oil prices likewise rose after seesawing through the day amid
uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran and how long it
will slow the global flow of oil and natural gas. Iran on Monday
rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a
permanent end to the war.
“We won’t merely accept a ceasefire,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the
Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press. “We only
accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked
again.”
Fighting continued in the war, meanwhile, including an Israeli attack on
an Iranian petrochemical plant. And in the background was the clock
ticking toward a deadline, one that Trump has moved multiple times,
where he has threatened to attack Iranian power plants if it does not
open the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world’s oil typically sails
through the strait during peacetime.
Trump on Monday suggested that his latest deadline of Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Eastern time will be the final one, saying he’d already given enough
extensions. “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that
night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said.
Monday also offered the first chance for U.S. stock prices to react to a
report from Friday that said U.S. employers hired more workers last
month than economists expected. The unemployment rate unexpectedly
improved.
They’re encouraging signals for an economy that’s had to absorb painful
leaps in costs for gasoline since the war’s beginning. The average price
for a gallon of regular gasoline is nearly $4.12 across the country,
according to AAA. It was below $3 a couple days before the United States
and Israel launched attacks to begin the war in late February.
For countries that don’t produce as much oil as the United States, the
pain has been even worse. That’s because they are more reliant on oil
coming from the Middle East, and the war has blocked in much of the
crude produced in the Persian Gulf area. That oil typically gets to
customers around the world by exiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8% to settle at
$112.41 after erasing an earlier modest dip. Brent crude, the
international standard, added 0.8% to $109.77 per barrel and remains
well above its roughly $70 price from before the war.
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Patrick McKeon, center, works on the floor at the New York Stock
Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
 On Wall Street, a split performance
for the Big Tech stocks that dominate the U.S. market kept things in
check. Apple rose 1.1%, and Amazon added 1.4%. Tesla slid 2.2%, and
Microsoft fell 0.2%.
Bank stocks were strong, including a 1.3% rise for
JPMorgan Chase.
CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders released
on Monday that the U.S. economy continues to be resilient, and
businesses still look healthy. He, though, also acknowledged that
prices for stocks and other assets are high, which could imply
“anything less than positive outcomes could have a dramatic impact
on global markets.”
All told, the S&P 500 rose 29.14 points to 6,611.83. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained 165.21 to 46,669.88, and the Nasdaq
composite climbed 117.16 to 21,996.34.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The
10-year Treasury yield was sitting at 4.33%. That’s still well above
its 3.97% level from before the war. The rise has pushed up rates
for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and
businesses, which slows the economy.
A report on Monday said that finance, transportation and other U.S.
businesses in services sectors grew in March for a 21st straight
month of expansion. But the growth was slightly slower than
economists expected, and a measure of prices accelerated at its
fastest pace since 2022 in a potentially discouraging signal for
inflation.
In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.5%, and South
Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.4%. Many other markets in Europe and Asia
were closed for holidays.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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