US stocks drift higher as gold, silver and bitcoin stabilize

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted higher on Monday following big rallies for markets in Asia earlier in the day.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and pulled closer to its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%.

The relatively modest moves followed a 3.9% burst higher for Japan’s Nikkei 225 to a record. Stocks rallied there following a landslide victory for the prime minister’s political party in a parliamentary election. The thought is that will give Sanae Takaichi more power to push through reforms that will boost the economy and market.

On Wall Street, the U.S. stock market was coming off its best day since May to close last week, but several concerns still hang over the market. That includes criticism that stocks have simply become too expensive following their run to records.

Worries are also heavy about whether all the huge spending by Big Tech and other companies on artificial-intelligence technology will produce enough profit to make the investments worth it.

Some of the winners from that rush into AI drove the market higher on Monday. Chip companies rose, for example, with Nvidia up 2.4% and Broadcom up 3.3%. They were two of the strongest forces pushing the S&P 500 upward.

Kroger climbed 3.9% after the grocer named a former Walmart executive as its new chief executive officer.

Transocean reversed an early loss and rose 5.9% after the offshore drilling company said it would buy Valaris in an all-stock deal valued at $5.8 billion. Valaris leaped 34.3%.

On the losing end was Hims & Hers, which sank 16% after Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit and alleged Hims & Hers is unlawfully selling versions of its weight-loss treatments. The suit follows a move by the U.S Food and Drug Administration to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular weight-loss medications.

Hims & Hers said, “Big Phama is weaponizing the US judicial system to limit consumer choice” in a post on the X account for the company’s communications team.

Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States rose 3.6%.

Workday fell 5.1% after the AI platform said its CEO, Carl Eschenbach, is stepping down. Company co-founder Aneel Bhusri is returning as chief executive.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.52 points to 6,964.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20.20 to 50,135.87, and the Nasdaq composite gained 207.46 to 23,238.67.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of potentially market-moving reports coming later in the week. The U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on the health of the job market on Wednesday. Friday will bring the latest monthly reading of inflation at the consumer level.

Either report could sway expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates. The Fed has put its cuts to interest rates on hold, but a weakening of the job market could push it to resume more quickly. Too-hot inflation, on the other hand, could keep it on hold for longer.

One of the reasons the U.S. stock market remains close to records is the expectation that the Fed will continue cutting interest rates later this year. Lower rates can give the economy a boost, though they can also worsen inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.20% from 4.22% late Friday.

Other markets that had whipped through more violent moves over recent weeks showed some more strength or stability.

Gold rose 2% to settle at $5,079.40 per ounce. It’s been swinging sharply after roughly doubling in price over 12 months, and it has bounced between $4,500 and nearly $5,600. Silver, whose price has been even wilder, jumped 6.9% Monday.

Bitcoin was hanging just below $71,000 after drifting above the level during the weekend. It had dropped close to $60,000 last week, more than halfway below its record set in October.

In stock markets abroad, indexes jumped across Asia with Japan’s surge. South Korea’s Kospi leaped 4.1%, while stocks rose 1.8% in Hong Kong and 1.4% in Shanghai.

The gains were more modest in Europe, where Germany’s DAX returned 1.2% and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.6%.

AP Videojournalist Mayuko Ono and AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Specialist Anthony Matesic works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A security guard stands guard at the gate of Tokyo Stock Exchange building, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's appeal to China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe” brought no commitments on Sunday as oil prices soar during the Iran war.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS that Tehran has been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels, “and this is up to our military to decide.” He said a group of vessels from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.

Iran has said the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil exports normally pass, is open to all except the United States and its allies.

Araghchi added that “we don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans” about finding a way to end the war, noting that Israel and the U.S. started the fighting with coordinated attacks on Feb. 28 during indirect U.S.-Iran talks on Iran's nuclear program. He also said Tehran had “no plan to recover” the enriched uranium that is under rubble following U.S. and Israeli attacks last year.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC he has been “in dialogue” with some of the countries Trump mentioned, and said he expected China “will be a constructive partner” in reopening the strait.

But countries made no promises.

Britain said Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday discussed with Trump the importance of reopening the strait "to end the disruption to global shipping,” and spoke with Canada’s prime minister about it separately.

A spokesperson for China’s embassy to the U.S., Liu Pengyu, said “all parties have the responsibility to ensure stable and unimpeded energy supply” and that China would “strengthen communication with relevant parties” for de-escalation.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it “takes note” of Trump’s call and that it “will closely coordinate and carefully review” the situation with the U.S.

Expectations are high that Trump will ask Japan directly when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets him on Thursday at the White House.

France previously said it is working with countries — President Emmanuel Macron mentioned partners in Europe, India and Asia — on a possible international mission to escort ships through the strait but has stressed it must be when “the circumstances permit,” when fighting has subsided.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, which was not mentioned in Trump's call, told ARD television: “Will we soon be an active part of this conflict? No.”

Meanwhile, emergency oil stocks “will soon start flowing to global markets,” the International Energy Agency said Sunday, describing the collective action to lower prices “by far the largest ever.”

It updated last week’s announcement of 400 million barrels to nearly 412 million. Asian member countries plan to release stocks “immediately,” and reserves from Europe and the Americas will be released “from the end of March.”

Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain reported new missile or drone attacks a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates — the first time it has threatened a neighboring country’s non-U.S. assets.

Tehran has accused the U.S. of launching Friday's strikes on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s primary oil terminal, from the UAE, without providing evidence. It has threatened to attack U.S.-linked “oil, economic and energy infrastructures” if its oil infrastructure is hit.

U.S. Central Command said it had no response to Iran’s claim, and Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, rejected it. Gulf countries that host U.S. bases have denied allowing their land or airspace to be used for military operations against Iran.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbors during the war, causing significant damage and rattling economies even as most are intercepted. Tehran says it targets U.S. assets, even as Iranian strikes are reported at civilian sites such as airports and oil fields.

Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf countries, most of them migrant workers.

In Iran, the International Committee for the Red Cross said more than 1,300 people have been killed. Iran’s Health Ministry said 223 women and 202 children are among the dead, according to Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.

Iran’s government on Sunday showed journalists buildings damaged by strikes in Tehran on Friday. A police station was hit and surrounding buildings were damaged. Some apartments’ outer walls had been stripped away.

“God had mercy on all of us,” said Elham Movagghari, a resident. Other Iranians are leaving the country.

In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire and more have been injured, including three on Sunday. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, six in a plane crash in Iraq last week.

At least 820 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to its Health Ministry, since Iran-backed Hezbollah hit Israel and Israel responded with strikes and sent additional troops into southern Lebanon. In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people — nearly one out of every seven residents of Lebanon — have been displaced.

Israel’s military said early Monday that Iran launched missiles toward Israel.

Earlier, several strikes hit central Israel and the Tel Aviv area, where they caused damage at 23 sites and sparked a small fire. Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service, released video showing a large crater in a street and shrapnel damage to an apartment building.

Israel’s military says Iran is firing cluster bombs that can evade some air defenses and scatter submunitions across multiple locations.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Frankel from Jerusalem and Anna from Lowville, New York. Associated Press journalists Sally Abou AlJoud and Fadi Tawil in Beirut, John Leicester in Paris, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Fatima Hussein and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report.

This version corrects to say Araghchi was speaking to CBS, not NBC as previously reported.

People walk past tents sheltering people displaced by Israeli airstrikes at a public space along the Beirut waterfront at sunset in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

People gather outside an apartment building damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Bnei Brak, Israel, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People shout slogans during an anti U.S. and Israeli rally outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 15, 2026. The sign reads in Turkish: "Leave NATO, close the bases." (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Heavy rain falls over tents sheltering people displaced by Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, along the Beirut waterfront in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israeli air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A cargo ship sails in the Arabian Gulf towards Strait of Hormuz in United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Firefighters extinguish fire at a site damaged during an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Home Front Command officer works at an apartment damaged after an Iranian strike in Bnei Brak, Israel, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Smoke rises from the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man photographs the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israeli air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises from the U.S. embassy building in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Jabar)

Mourners react during the funeral ceremony for Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Fire and plumes of smoke rise from an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A man chants slogan while the body of Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, is being buried at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)