Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Monday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction in early trading.
Uncertainty about the situation in the Middle East may keep some traders on the sidelines after President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he would be reviewing a new peace proposal from Iran but said he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.”
“They have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said of Iran in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said in a separate post that the U.S. would soon begin helping to “free” ships from countries not involved with the Middle East dispute that are stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” Trump said.
The news of the president’s plan comes amid reports Iran’s Navy has blocked “American-Zionist” warships from entering the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media also claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a U.S. warship with two missiles, although U.S. Central Command denied the report and said, “No U.S. Navy ships have been struck.”
Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Dow sliding into negative territory.
The major averages eventually ended the day mixed. While the Dow fell 152.87 points or 0.3 percent to 49,499.27, the S&P 500 rose 21.11 points or 0.3 percent to 7,320.12 and the Nasdaq advanced 222.13 points or 0.9 percent to 25,144.44.
Despite pulling back off their best levels of the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 still finished the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages also moved to the upside for the week. The Nasdaq jumped by 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.9 percent and the Dow increased by 0.6 percent.
The early strength on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), with the tech giant surging by 3.3 percent.
Apple nearly reached the record intraday high set last December after reporting better than expected fiscal second quarter results and forecasting revenues for the current quarter above analyst estimates.
Buying interest was also generated in reaction to an extended pullback by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures tumbling by nearly 3 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures showed a significant downturn on Thursday, slumping by 1.7 percent after reaching their highest levels in four years.
The continued decrease by crude oil prices came amid reports Iran has delivered its response to the latest U.S. amendments on the agreement to end the war through Pakistani mediators.
However, the positive sentiment may have been partly offset by the response from President Donald Trump, who told reporters at the White House that he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s proposal.
In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing manufacturing activity expanded for the fourth consecutive month in April.
The ISM said its manufacturing PMI came in at 52.7 in April, unchanged from March. While a reading above 50 still indicates growth, economists had expected the index to inch up to 53.0.
Computer hardware and software stocks saw substantial strength on the day, contributing to the advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Reflecting the strength in the sectors, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index (DOWI:DJUSSW) both surged by 2.5 percent.
Considerable strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
On the other hand, brokerage stocks showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index down by 1.9 percent.
Housing, gold and energy stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, limiting the upside for the broader markets.