US equities closed sharply higher on Monday April 13 after an early session selloff reversed on renewed optimism over a potential US-Iran deal. The S&P 500 advanced +1.0% to 6'886, its highest close since before the Iran war began, erasing the index's year-to-date loss. The Nasdaq Composite gained +1.2% to 23'184, buoyed by a broad software recovery and a ninth straight positive session for the Nasdaq 100. The Dow Jones added +0.6% to 48'218, recovering from a 400-point intraday low. The rebound was driven by technology and financials, with Oracle and Palantir each rising sharply on sector rotation into quality growth after Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon suggested recent software weakness was overdone. Breadth improved meaningfully into the close after starting the day negative.
Europe lagged, with the STOXX 600 slipping -0.2% to 614 and the FTSE 100 off -0.2% to 10'583, both weighed by continued energy supply uncertainty and cautious positioning ahead of US bank earnings. The Swiss SMI fell - 0.3% to 13'146.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 gained +2.4% to 57'877 at Monday's Tokyo close, while the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite each rose +1.0% to 25'903 and 4'026 respectively, lifted by ceasefire optimism.
