NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher Monday, joining most global equity markets that gained on easing concerns about North Korea.
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal that the United States favors a diplomatic solution to the stand-off with Pyongyang, especially with help from China, though they stressed diplomacy is “backed by military options.”
America has “no interest” in regime change in Pyongyang or the accelerated reunification of the two Koreas, two top US officials said in a message calibrated to cool last week’s heated rhetoric.
/ AFP / Brendan Smialowski/
Investors greeted the more conciliatory tone after US stocks dropped three days in a row last week on President Donald Trump’s vow of “fire and fury” if North Korea continued to pursue its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
“The sell-off was triggered mostly by the heated rhetoric over North Korea. The president used some language that shocked many investors,” said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer of Cornerstone Wealth Management.
“It was an immediate reaction from investors to concerns that a military action was possible and now people are taking the issue more in stride.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 percent to 21,993.44.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.0 percent to 2,465.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 percent to 6,340.23.
Banks were strong, with JPMorgan Chase gaining 1.1 percent, Goldman Sachs adding 1.5 percent and Bank of America up 2.3 percent.
Technology shares were also mostly up, with Apple, Amazon and Facebook all advancing about 1.5 percent.
But energy shares were under pressure as oil prices tumbled. Apache and Devon Energy both lost nearly two percent and Dow member Chevron declined 0.5 percent.
© Agence France-Presse