US STOCKS-Equities rise as oil prices ease on truce hopes

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Monday, as oil prices retreated after the Israel-Iran attacks left crude production and exports unaffected, easing investor concerns about the potential for higher energy prices to stoke inflation.

Crude prices LCOc1, CLc1 were down nearly 2% on hopes a truce was on the horizon between Israel and Iran after days of missile strikes, as Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump to force a ceasefire in the four-day-old aerial war, while Israel's prime minister said his country was on the "path to victory."

Oil prices had surged more than 7% on Friday after Israel began bombing Iran.

Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press Trump to use his influence with Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire, in return for Iran's flexibility in nuclear negotiations, sources told Reuters.

"Well, it's certainly breathing a sigh of relief because if the rumor is true that Iran is waving the white flag, they realized that they got beaten up," said Ken Polcari, chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth in Jupiter, Florida.

"It could absolutely change in the next hour, which is why the market's a little bit cautious - yes it's up, yes it's kind of celebrating, but anything certainly could change in the next hour."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 332.62 points, or 0.79%, to 42,530.41, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 55.16 points, or 0.92%, to 6,032.13 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 286.81 points, or 1.48%, to 19,693.63.

Investors are also awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when policymakers are widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

Money markets are largely not expecting the Fed to cut rates until September, pricing in a 61.1% chance for a cut of at least 25 basis points, according to LSEG data.

Economic data expected this week includes monthly retail sales, import prices and weekly jobless claims.

Tech .SPLRCT led S&P sector gains while utilities were the worst performer.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX jumped about 3%, led by a surge of more than 9% in Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O after Piper Sandler raised its price target on the chipmaker.

UPS UPS.N and FedEx FDX.N edged up about 1% after the Trump Organization launched a self-branded mobile network, dubbed Trump Mobile, and named the companies as shipping partners.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT.O plummeted more than 40% after the company disclosed a second case of a patient dying due to acute liver failure after receiving its gene therapy for a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

U.S. Steel X.N rose 5.1% after Trump approved Nippon Steel's 5401.T $14.9 billion bid for the company.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.29-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.2-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 96 new lows.