Stocks - Wall Street Rises on Hopes for Trade, Iran Deals

Investing.com - Stocks rose on Monday, a relief to traders and investors around the world.

What's not clear is if Monday's rally was simply a rebound from Friday's savage downturn or something more meaningful.

That will take time to sort out. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% thanks to late buying. The Dow Jones industrials , up 1% on the day, or 271 points, had been up as much 312 points, or 1.2% right after the open.

The Nasdaq Composite, with many tech companies directly affected by the ongoing U.S. trade fight, was up 1.3%. And we'll note the Nasdaq 100 Index was up 1.47%, thanks to the late surge. Its leader was Jd.Com (NASDAQ:JD), up 3.4%. It is an online retailer in China.

Interest rates rose modestly.

The rally's catalyst was President Donald Trump. First, he said China was willing to make a trade deal and he said he'd be willing to meet with Iran's president, if the conditions were right.

That was good news for traders and the algorithms that govern many markets. All 30 Dow stocks were higher, along with 94 Nasdaq-100 stocks. The Dow leaders included Nike (NYSE:NKE), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). All three have huge stakes in China and Disney is getting a boost as it nears launching its steaming video service in November.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) jumped about 3%, fourth among Nasdaq 100 stocks, because many of the toys it sells are made in China.

Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) were second and third among Nasdaq 100 stocks, rising more than 3%. Amgen will buy Celgene's psoriasis drug Otezla for $13.5 billion in cash. And Celgene is a step closer to merging with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) in a $74 billion deal.

After the close, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up more than 5.2% after a federal judge in Oklahoma found the company responsible for fueling the opioid crisis in that state. He ordered the company to pay $572 million in damages in a case where the state had asked drug companies to pay up to $17 billion in damages. Two other companies settled out of court. Some 2,000 cases are awaiting trial against drug companies.

Johnson & Johnson had been up 0.8% in regular trading but down slightly on the year before the decision was announced.

While retailers such as Macy’s (NYSE:M) and Gap (NYSE:GPS) were weak, Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) led the S&P 500, followed by oil and chemical company TechnipFMC (NYSE:FTI), DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH) and telecommunications company CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL). The S&P 500 laggards included Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM), women's apparel company L Brands (NYSE:LB), Gap and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN).

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.537% from Friday's 1.527%, but it is still off 42% this year.

Oil prices fell because of the possibilities of a thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations. West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, fell 53 cents to $53.64 a barrel. The November contract for Brent, the global crude benchmark, was off 68 cents to $58.12. Gold futures were down slightly at $1,537.20 an ounce in New York.

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