Stock Market News Review: SPY, QQQ Shrug off Israel-Iran Fears as U.S.-UK Deal Imminent

It was a great start to the week for both the S&P 500 (SPX) and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) as investors reversed Friday’s risk-off stance.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had informed Arab intermediaries of its intent to begin negotiations with Israel concerning an end to the violence and its nuclear program on the condition that the U.S. stays out of the fight. Israel has said that Iran has not yet initiated communications while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t expect a serious conversation.

“They want to continue these phony talks – to lie, deceive, and drag the US along. We have very solid intelligence on this,” said Netanyahu in an interview with ABC.

Meanwhile, President Trump is considering providing Iran with a “last chance” offer, said The Jerusalem Post. While the specifics of the offer haven’t been publicized, it would include the requirement for Iran to completely end its nuclear program. The U.S. and Iran were supposed to meet over the weekend to discuss a nuclear deal, although Iran cancelled the meeting as a result of the Israeli strikes.

In terms of trade, the U.S. and United Kingdom are extremely close to signing a trade deal, which could potentially take place at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, which ends tomorrow, June 17. “I’m very pleased that we made that trade deal, and we’re in the final stages now of implementation, and I expect that to be completed very soon,” said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

In response to an earlier report, the European Union has denied that it would accept a 10% baseline tariff on imports to the U.S. EU Chief Spokesperson Paul Pinho told POLITICO that the report’s claims are “speculative and do not reflect the current state of discussions.” At the G7 Summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke against “protectionist measures” and said that trade should be “fair, predictable, and open.”

The S&P 500 finished the trading session with a 0.94% gain while the Nasdaq 100 closed higher by 1.42%.