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Crude oil prices rose in Asian trading on Monday after Israeli troops entered Lebanon further over the weekend, fueling investor fears that the wider Middle East conflict could escalate instead of moving towards a peace deal.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose 2.88% to $89.88 per barrel, while Brent crude oil rose 2.43% to $93.33 per barrel.
The Israeli advance has occurred despite a nominal ceasefire in effect since April 17 and just days before the next round of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, scheduled at the State Department on June 2 and 3.
In other early trading deals on Monday morning, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, with South Korea's Kospi rising 1.31%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.17%. The broader Topix index, however, fell 0.3%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.21%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.73%. Mainland China's CSI 300 index fell 0.32%.
Meanwhile, shares of SoftBank Group listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 5% after the Japanese conglomerate revealed plans to invest 45 billion euros over the next five years to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in France.
In the U.S., stock futures were unchanged as Wall Street continued to push into the record books on Friday. Major indexes continued the market's recent streak of gains and closed out a solid month of gains.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.2%, marking its seventh straight gain and ninth consecutive winning week, the longest such streak since 2023. The benchmark index set an all-time record for the fourth consecutive day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2%. The Dow and Nasdaq also hit new highs after hitting record highs earlier last week.
Big tech stocks have been behind most of the market's record streak. Their expensive share prices give them more influence in driving the market up or down. In May alone, tech stocks within the S&P 500 rose more than 15%, while most sectors in the benchmark index actually lost ground.
“Growth has been largely led by technology and supported by resilient earnings, but the key question is whether it can be sustained,” Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, wrote in a research note.
Technology stocks also led the market higher on Friday. Microsoft rose 5.4% and Broadcom gained 4.7%.
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