STOCK EXCHANGE: Wall Street opened cautiously – Ed Yardeni believes S&P 500 will rise 11% in the rest of the year

Stock markets opened sluggishly in the United States as investors weighed developments in the Iran war.

The Dow Jones, which follows thirty major companies, was 0.1 percent higher compared to Friday’s closing reading.

The S&P 500, which tracks the shares of five hundred companies, was up 0.1 percent, and the technology-focused Nasdaq was close to Friday’s closing reading.

“The market equally believes in the creation of a cease-fire agreement”, market data service Sevens Reportin founder Tom Try comment for the news agency Bloomberg.

The US attacked Iran with Israel in February. Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz, which runs next to the state, closed. A significant part of the world’s oil traffic passes through the strait.

Over the weekend, Iran submitted a proposal to the United States to end the war, but the President of the United States Donald Trump announced that he did not accept the proposal.

“The geopolitical situation remains very unstable, but investors are still able to look beyond these problems”, Meklariliike Miller Tabak + Co:n rescuer Matt Maley evaluate.

The interim reports of US listed companies for the first quarter have exceeded analysts’ forecasts, which has been a key driver for the stock market.

Strategists have raised their forecasts for the S&P 500’s closing reading this year. For example, a market information service CFR raised its forecast from 7,730 points to 7,400 points.

The highest reading is given by the market information service Yardeni Research. The forecast rose from 7,700 points to 8,250 points. The S&P 500 is currently at 7,410 points.

If the forecast holds true, the index would rise by 11 percent this year.

Founder of Yardeni Research Ed Garden according to the profit forecasts of listed companies have risen rapidly despite the crisis.

“Our main assumption is that the economy will remain resilient. So will the results,” Yardeni commented, for example In Fortune’s news.

Not everyone is equally positive. For example, an investment bank Morgan Stanley warned on Monday that oil prices could rise sharply if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed until June.

The price of Brent oil was up 2.4 percent today at $103.74 per barrel. The price was around 60 dollars at the beginning of the year. The highest price has been almost 120 dollars this year.

The price of oil is not only visible to consumers at the gas pump, but is reflected in the companies’ business operations and product prices, for example in the form of transportation costs.