Stocks Rise Despite Fresh Iran Strikes as Big Tech Earnings Loom

(WS News) – U.S. stocks climbed on Monday even as fresh American airstrikes on Iran kept geopolitical risk in focus, with investors turning their attention to a heavy week of corporate earnings from some of the market’s largest companies.

The S&P 500 gained 0.63 percent, the Nasdaq rose 1.02 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.23 percent, while the small-cap Russell 2000 slipped 0.42 percent. The gains came despite renewed instability in the Middle East, where the conflict between the United States and Iran has continued to escalate.

Markets are looking ahead to results from Tesla, Alphabet and Intel this week, among a broader slate of earnings that will test whether corporate profits can hold up against a backdrop of elevated oil prices and skittish investor sentiment. The move higher follows a rocky stretch for technology shares, with semiconductor stocks in particular under pressure after concerns about the pace of artificial intelligence spending triggered a sharp sell-off in chip names last week.

Analysts say the market’s ability to shrug off the latest round of strikes reflects investor expectations that the conflict, while serious, is unlikely to trigger a broader disruption to global energy supply severe enough to derail the earnings outlook, though continued escalation remains a risk factor markets are watching closely heading into the back half of the summer.