As of press release, the three major indices were collectively higher. The Dow Jones index rose 0.99%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.83%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.53%.

On Monday morning, the USD/JPY exchange rate hit a new high since 1990. US Treasury yields rose, and the 10-year Treasury yield rose 10.7 basis points to 4.606%, hitting a new high during the year. Earlier, the US Department of Commerce reported that retail sales rose 0.7% in March, exceeding market expectations.

The situation in the Middle East has attracted much attention. On Saturday evening local time, Iran launched missiles and more than 100 armed drones at Israeli targets, bringing the Middle East closer to a full-scale regional war. This is the first time Iran has launched a direct attack against Israel from its own territory. Iran warns that as long as Israel does not respond back, military action can be “seen as an end.”

Although most threats have been intercepted, markets are still fearful that Israel will act in retaliation. Israel has announced that it will make a “major response.”

Analysts pointed out that this is the first direct military conflict between sovereign countries since the outbreak of a new round of conflict between Palestine and Israel, causing the international community to strongly worry about the drastic deterioration of the situation in the Middle East region.

Gold futures rose slightly to $2376.30 an ounce. The price of gold hit a record high last week and rose about 15% this year as sticky inflation and geopolitical tensions prompted investors to seek safe investment targets.

However, crude oil prices have declined. A few weeks before Iran launched an attack on Israel, oil prices continued to rise as the situation in the Middle East became increasingly tense. Given that Israel thwarted Iran's attack, the country's retaliatory response may have been reserved, providing a positive signal for traders.

Krishna Guha, senior managing director of Evercore ISI, said: “This is still a dangerous situation, but the risks facing oil and other markets may be less than what investors were concerned about on the eve of the attack.”

Krishna Guha said that how Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will respond to this attack is a key unresolved question. However, he pointed out that the Biden administration has made it clear that it does not want Israel to retaliate. According to an official familiar with the developments, US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the US would not participate in a counterattack against Iran.

He said, “If Netanyahu seems willing to follow the US advice, there may be some mitigating factors in the market on Monday. But our energy team colleagues don't expect a sharp drop in oil prices.”

On Monday, US stock investors continued to pay attention to the first quarter earnings season for US stocks, which has just begun.

Goldman Sachs's revenue and profit for the first fiscal quarter both exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Prior to Goldman Sachs, several financial giants such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and BlackRock released financial reports one after another last Friday.

J.P. Morgan strategists say don't expect an optimistic corporate earnings season to drive the stock market higher, because most of the optimism has already been digested after this year's record rise.

The J.P. Morgan Chase research team led by Mislav Matejka wrote in a report that during the reporting period, profit expectations for the first quarter had already been lowered, which lowered the threshold for US companies to exceed expectations. Strategists said that after excluding tech giants, the profits of S&P 500 companies are expected to decline across the board.

Dallas Fed President Logan and San Francisco Federal Reserve President Daly will speak later Monday. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is scheduled to speak on Tuesday. According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's FedWatch Tool (FedWatch Tool), money market participants currently believe there is more than 50% chance that the Federal Reserve will launch an easing cycle in July.

Individual stocks in focus

The trend of star technology stocks diverged, with SAFTSE falling nearly 4%, Tesla falling nearly 3%, and Nvidia rising nearly 2%.

Popular Chinese securities had mixed ups and downs. Ctrip rose more than 2%, Shell and JD rose nearly 2%, and NIO and Ideal Auto fell by about 1%.

$Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$Up more than 5%, Q1 revenue of US$14.21 billion was better than market expectations of US$12.92 billion, up 16.3% year on year; earnings per share were US$11.58, or US$8.79 in the same period last year.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$It dropped nearly 3%, and it was announced that the global workforce would be cut by 10%. Previously, the US basic FSD subscription fee was lowered from $199 to $99 per month.

$Trump Media & Technology (DJT.US)$It fell by more than 10% and applied for the issuance of an additional 21.5 million shares.

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