U.S. equity futures traded higher on Monday after President Donald Trump offered investors hope that an end to the war against Iran is drawing near. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 357 points, or 0.8%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.8% each. “The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. However, while the president added that “great progress has been made,” he also said that if a peace deal is not reached “shortly” and the Strait of Hormuz is not “immediately” reopened, the U.S. will “conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’” This comes after Trump said Sunday that Tehran had accepted most of the U.S.′ 15-point plan to end the war and that Iran has agreed to allow an additional 20 oil ships cross the Strait. “We still have this mindset that this is transitory, that somehow, yes, there’s going to be a short-term effect, but we should look through it,” Mohamed A. El-Erian, Allianz chief economic advisor, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” about sentiment in the equity market, adding that investors also aren’t pricing in “very limited policy flexibility” due to the war. “There’s a real question mark as to what the Fed is going to do, and we’re already running a 6% deficit,” he continued. “The market hasn’t quite realized that if this goes on, the policy offsets much less than what we’ve had before.” Traders have worried in recent weeks that higher energy prices could hurt the economy. El-Erian believes the next tipping point economically speaking would be “physical shortages,” saying Monday that “if we start seeing that in Asia, that will impact the U.S.” He continued, “the U.S. will now import higher products in terms of prices, and the question is do we now see also a disruption in the availability of products.” Wall Street is coming off a losing week, with the Dow and Nasdaq tipping into correction territory. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all posted their fifth straight weekly declines. The market will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday, although the March jobs report is still scheduled for release that morning. U.S. Treasury yields were lower early on Monday as investors looked ahead to key jobs data and monitored the U.S.-Iran war, which entered its fifth week. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was down more than 6 basis points to 4.374%, while the 30-year Treasury bond also shed more than 5 basis points to yield at 4.926%. The 2-year Treasury yield was lower by more than 4 basis points to 3.869%. Asia-Pacific markets fell sharply on Monday as the Middle East war entered its fifth week, with the conflict escalating despite efforts aimed at finding a diplomatic solution. The benchmark Kospi plunged over 5%, before paring losses to close 2.97% lower at 5,277.3 while the small-cap Kosdaq fell around 3% to 1,107.05. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.79% to 51,885.85 while the Topix lost 2.94% to 3,542.34. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.65% lower, closing at 8,461. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost over 1%, while the CSI 300 was down 0.24% to 4,491.95. Oil prices rose on Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s oil wells and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis fired missiles at Israel. International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery traded 2.07% higher at $114.90 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with May delivery traded 1.37% higher at $101.01. Brent crude has soared more than 55% in March, putting the benchmark on track for its steepest monthly rise on record. Gold rose more than 1% on Monday on bargain-hunting, but was ‌set for its largest monthly decline in nearly two decades as rising oil prices due to the escalating war in the Middle East all but eliminated U.S. interest rate cut bets ​for the year. Spot gold rose 1.1% to $4,541.76 per ounce, after gaining ​more than 1% earlier. U.S. gold futures for April delivery gained ⁠1.1% to $4,572.20. “After prices touched multi-month lows last week, traders saw an opportunity to buy ​the dip, driving the gains in the precious metal seen today and on Friday,” ​said ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista. Spot gold fell to $4,097.99 per ounce last Monday, its lowest since November 24, 2025. The metal has fallen more than 14% so far this month, on track ​for its largest monthly fall since October 2008, pressured by the U.S. dollar, ​which has gained more than 2% since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28.