Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed above breakeven on Monday, despite rising political tensions while a sharp rise in oil prices boosted energy stocks.
U.S. stocks shrugged off rising geopolitical tensions and made a positive start to the trading week, as the three main U.S. indexes ended the day in positive territory, led by energy, after oil prices rallied on the back of an oil output disruption in Libya.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May delivery gained 84 cents to settle at $53.08 a barrel.
Geopolitical jitters remained front and center, following last week’s U.S. missile strike on an airbase in Syria, while the U.S decision to move a Navy strike group toward the Korean peninsula amid continued missile tests by North Korea failed to weigh on sentiment.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) overtook General Motors (NYSE:GM) as the most valuable carmaker in the U.S., as shares of Tesla closed more than 3% higher, after its stock received an upgrade from Wall Street research firm Piper Jaffray.
Meanwhile, investors look ahead to the start of first quarter earnings season, as financials, mostly banks, report their results on Thursday.
Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo report results on Thursday before the US market opens.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.01% higher at 20,658. The S&P 500 added 0.07% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.05% higher at 5880.93.
S&P 500 ‘movers and shakers’
The top S&P 500 gainers included; Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ:WFM) up 10%, and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) up 4%, while Ryder System Inc (NYSE:R) added 2.7%.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) down 3.1%, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) down 3.1% and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) down 2.6%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.